

' ' '■"■' 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL 
EDUCATION 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

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INTRODUCTION 

TO 

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



A STATEMENT OF FACTS AND PRINCIPLES RELATED 

TO THE VOCATIONAL ASPECTS OF EDUCATION 

BELOW COLLEGE GRADE 



BY 
DAVID SPENCE HILL, PH.D., LL.D. 

PRESIDENT OF THE STATE TJNIVER8ITY OP NEW MEXICO 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION 
BY 

M. V. O'SHEA 



^tw fork 

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1920 



All rights reserved 






COPYRIOHT, 1920 

By the MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published July, igao. 



ICU571788 



JUL^Sl^^O 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

One may safely predict that vocational training in some form 
will occupy a larger place in American education in the future 
than it has occupied in the past; but among teachers as well as 
laymen there is a lack of agreement regarding the scope, char- 
acter, and value of vocational education. One reads articles on 
this subject in general and professional magazines and listens 
to addresses at educational meetings, and he is confused by the 
different claims which are made and the varying points of view 
which are presented. Some declare that we should train boys 
and girls speci6ca[ly for definite occupations which they will 
enter the moment they leave school, while others oppose this 
view and hold that our training should concern only the general 
sciences or principles or skills upon which all occupations de- 
pend. Some advocate that vocational and general education 
should be rigidly distinguished the one from the other, while 
many persons protest that such a separation would undermine 
American democratic institutions. Again, one frequently hears 
devotees of vocational education say that a pupil will receive 
better discipline of mind and character in working with tools 
and shaping materials to definite purposes than he will in study- 
ing the so-called cultural subjects such as history, literature, 
foreign language, mathematics, and the like. But this proposi- 
tion is vehemently denied by one group of teachers and educa- 
tional theorists in particular, who maintain that vocational edu- 
cation is commercial and materialistic, that it restricts the 
pupil's vision, and that it fails to give him an understanding of 
human nature or interest in or sympathy with his fellows. So 
it is not to be wondered at that teachers as well as laymen are 



vi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

perplexed when the advice given them by different counsellors 
is so conflicting. 

In this volume President Hill discusses all these problems and 
others in a critical, unbiased manner. In order that the reader 
may view vocational education in the proper perspective he is 
first led to reflect on the purpose and function of education as a 
whole in a democratic country like ours. The author shows that 
the preservation of democracy is dependent upon a thorough- 
going, comprehensive educational program; and he shows fur- 
ther that in a democratic country the individual is entitled to an 
education which will prepare him to fulfill the duties of a citizen 
in the large sense of this term. When the reader gains the broad 
view of education presented here he readily concludes that 
preparation for a vocation is a phase, and a natural and neces- 
sary phase, of training for citizenship in a democracy. 

Of course, problems concerning the adjustment of specific 
vocational work to more general studies have to be considered. 
The vocational needs of communities large and small have to be 
investigated. The intellectual and temperamental require- 
ments for success in different vocations have to be taken into 
account. Problems relating to federal, state, and local support 
of vocational work have to be solved. President Hill treats all 
these matters in the light of extensive investigation and experi- 
mentation in vocational training. He has succeeded in estab- 
lishing harmony between the general principles of vocational as 
related to other forms of education; and the concrete programs 
he presents are based upon the results of experiments that have 
been made in vocational education in agriculture, the mechani- 
cal industries, trade, business and commerce. A reader who has 
doubts regarding the value and need of vocational education will 
probably have his doubts dissipated if he will read this volume. 
If he has been overwhelmed by questions relating to the adjust- 
ment of vocational to cultural training he will see how the 
problems involved can be solved without sacrificing general 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION vii 

education while attaining the ends of effective vocational 
training. 

The author of this volume is fortunate in being versed in the 
principles both of general and of vocational education, so that 
he is enabled to treat his theme with reference to the whole field 
of educational aims and values. He does not overstate the case 
for vocational education as some enthusiasts have done. He 
warns the reader that he must not expect too much from the in- 
troduction of vocational work into the schools. It is not a 
specific for all our educational ills. The need for it is very great ; 
it has its place; but it cannot be made a substitute for general 
training. 

A large amount of concrete material is brought together in 
this book. It is well organized and skillfully interpreted. Spe- 
cific reference is made to all the best literature bearing upon the 
problems which are considered. The points of view presented 
in this literature are worked into the text of the various 
chapters, so that the reader will feel that the author has 
surveyed a large field and given him just the facts and principles 
that he should consider in order that he may comprehend the 
meaning and appreciate the value of vocational education as an 
integral part of a comprehensive educational program. 

The book is designed to be of service to teachers and students 
of education as well as to the general reader. It is admirably 
suited for a text-book. The treatment is clear and logical 
throughout. The topics discussed in each chapter stand out 
distinctly and topical headings enable the reader to keep clearly 
in mind the problems under discussion in any part of the work. 
A brief summary of important conclusions is given at the close 
of each chapter. In order that the student may gain a firmer 
hold upon the principles developed in the text, he is required 
to test and apply these principles in a number of interesting, 
practical and stimulating exercises at the close of each chapter. 
He is thus given experience in using the principles he has learned 



vm EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

and in noting whether they can be advantageously employed in 
the community in which he is working or with which he is best 
acquainted. 

M. V. O'Shea. 
The University of Wisconsin, 
4 November, 1919. 



FOREWORD 

In undertaking to write a book setting forth the important 
facts and principles concerning vocational education lower than 
college grade, the writer has encountered difficulties concerning 
the need to be met by such a book, a sound underlying philoso- 
phy, and the selection of suitable materials to be used as il- 
lustrations of practice. With regard to the need for such an 
introduction it seems that no adequate text exists from which 
the general reader, the rank and file of teachers, as well as those 
who, for the first time, are becoming acutely interested in the 
problems of vocational education, can obtain a comprehensive 
but condensed statement of essential principles, facts and con- 
crete examples in this rapidly enlarging field. The writer, 
therefore, has endeavored to keep in mind these possible readers 
rather than the technical expert. 

With regard to basal principles we note that it is popular 
these days to say that there must be no separation or division 
between liberal, cultural, and specific vocational education, but 
the explanation or reason for this indispensable solidarity are 
not frequently made plain. It is perhaps natural that a psy- 
chologist with considerable industrial experience should find 
an explanation or reason for the administrative unification of 
all kinds of public education in the fact that in the developmental 
processes of society increased knowledge and skill without direct- 
ing ideals which are altruistic and specifically democratic, have 
been found totally inadequate for human welfare, whether we 
regard the individual or the race. 

While this is no new doctrine it perhaps needs renewed em- 
phasis to-day when skills and knowledge have been exercised 

XX 



X FOREWORD 

amazingly in the causation of a world war, and when the word 
democracy is upon millions of lips. Ethical idealism is a neces- 
sary step in conscious evolution, for evil as well as good may 
result from the acquisition of mere skill and knowledge. A 
measure of ethical idealism as a direct objective in all kinds of 
schools will involve realization of some of the choicest elements 
of liberal education — appreciation, discipline, information, 
physical well-being. The writer believes that American de- 
mocracy in its broad outlines as understood by Washington, 
Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Wilson, and, indeed, by the ma- 
jority of intelligent American citizens is the most practical and 
general embodiment of the ethical idealism to be promulgated 
by public education. 

The materials utilized for illustrative purposes in the making 
of our book have been of wide variety and some of them are 
quite inaccessible to the average reader. The writer, therefore, 
has included rather long lists of selected references at the end of 
each chapter and throughout has also quoted very liberally. 

Frequent and long quotations have in some respects unavoid- 
able objections, but we consider our use of them justifiable 
both for the purpose of bringing to the reader many concrete 
examples of the principles discussed, and also for the conven- 
ience of the reader, who may not be able to secure easily or 
quickly the original reports or books used. Certainly our 
method is at least better than the paste-and-scissors procedure 
used in making "source-books" where illustrative materials 
are loosely strung together, connected perhaps by a little com- 
ment of the editor. 

In making these quotations and allusions the writer has en- 
deavored to give due acknowledgment by reference to the 
author or material mentioned. However, in seeking to en- 
compass an extreme range of facts bearing upon our general 
theme, it is probable that there have been unintentional omis- 
sions. 



FOREWORD xi 

The aim of our undertaking, which has been steadily to 
furnish an introduction to the study of the vocational aspects of 
public education, has forced us to make the book one of con- 
siderable scope. We are supposing that the reader will be in- 
terested in obtaining a bird's-eye view of the relation of public 
education to democracy, of the auspices of vocational education in 
its historical development, of recent federal legislation, of those 
aspects of education called agricultural, industrial and trade, 
commercial, and of the vocational education pertaining to girls and 
women. We deem it of especial importance to point out the 
significant facts and principles which are exhibited in the 
contemporary movements for the application of the research 
method in behalf of both our schools and industry. This move- 
ment is developing rapidly and although we believe that 
we have set forth the most significant points of interest and 
the literature of the subject, nevertheless, this chapter of the 
book must be regarded strictly in the light of an introduction 
to a vast and important field. The same reservation is of 
course made in writing upon the different topics of applied 
psychology. 

The writer is indebted to the publishers of the Popular Science 
Monthly, of School and Society, of School and Home Education, 
and of McClure's Magazine for permission to use portions of 
articles which have been published by them. He expresses 
especially his indebtedness to the following gentlemen for 
looking over certain chapters of the manuscript: Dean Eugene 
Davenport, Dean Kendrick C. Babcock, and Professor Maurice 
H. Robinson of the University of Illinois. Professor M. V. 
O'Shea of the University of Wisconsin has examined the entire 
manuscript and has made numerous helpful suggestions. Pro- 
fessor Robert C. Whitford, now of Knox College, has pointed 
out many errors during the preparation of the original 
manuscript, and practically the entire work of copying has 
been Sone patiently by Miss Winifred Amos. The writer 



xii FOREWORD 

is appreciative of the opportiipity to do his share of the 
work during his former engagement at the University of 
Ilhnois. 

David S. Hill. 
Albuquerque, N. M., 
December, 1919. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER I 
Safeguarding American Democracy 1 

CHAPTER II 
The Meanings of Vocational Education 33 

CHAPTER III 
Adjustments to Individual and to Society 60 

CHAPTER IV 
Social Problems in Relation to Vocational Education 95 

CHAPTER V 
The Auspices of Vocational Education 122 

CHAPTER VI 

The Further Development of Federal Cooperation. 167 

CHAPTER VII 
Problems in Agricultural Education 192 

CHAPTER VIII 
Education for Mechanical Industries and Trades 238 

CHAPTER IX 

Education for Mechanical Industries and Trades — continued 279 

xiii 



xiv CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER X 
Education for Business and Commerce 308 

CHAPTER XI 
The Practical Education of Girls and Women 350 

CHAPTER XII 
Uses of Research for Education and Industry 389 

CHAPTER XIII 
Applications of Psychology to Instruction and Industry . . . 420 

Appendix 451 



FIGURES IN THE TEXT 

PAGE 

Fig. I. Proportion of Persons Engaged in Each General Division 

of Occupations, by States, 1910 72 

Fig, II. Proportion Which the Gainful Workers of Each Specified 

Age Constituted of All Gainful Workers, 1910 73 

Fig. III. Beginners Who Remain in School in Cleveland, Ohio. . . 76 

Fig. IV. Percentage Attending School in the Total Population, 

6 to 20 Years of Age, 1909-1910 79 

Fig V. Distribution of Projects 222 

Fig. VI. Divisions Within an Industrial Day School 247 

Fig. VII. Division of Work, Worcester Trade School 250 

Fig. VIII. Occupational Intelligence Standards in the United 
States Army 426 



XV 



TABLES 

PAGE 

Table I. Classification of Human Types 64 

Table 11. Occupational Statistics 69 

Table III. Occupational Groups 70 

Table IV. School Enrollment and Costs in 1916 84 

Table V. Distribution of School Enrollment, 1915 86 

Table VI. Students in Certain Studies in Public High Schools 

Since 1890 137 

Table VII. Income of Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges dur- 
ing Five Years 154 

Table VIII. Appropriations of United States Government for the 

Advancement of Education during 1914 155 

Table IX. Statistics of Vocational Schools and of Vocational 

Teacher-Training Centers for 1918 183 

Table X. Annual Grants under Smith-Hughes Act 185 

Table XI. Agricultural Workers in the United States 194 

Table XII. Institutions Giving Instruction in Agriculture 202 

Table XIII. Enrollment in Principal Divisions of Agricultural 

Colleges 207 

Table XIV. A Course for Teachers of Agriculture 219 

Table XV. Numbers of Occupations in Certain Industries.. . .242-245 

Table XVI. Statistics of Trade and Industrial Schools 246 

Table XVII. Continuation Classes in New York City 256-257 

Table XVIII. Students in Commercial Courses 325 

Table XIX. Manufactures into Which Girls go from School in 

Worcester, Mass 360 

Table XX. Girls' Ages upon Leaving School ia Worcester, Mass. 360 
Table XXI. Scores Made by Students of University of lUinois 

Taking Army Intelligence Tests 427 

Table XXII. Various Methods Employed by Different Organiza- 
tions in Conducting their Educational Work 442 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL 
EDUCATION 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL 
EDUCATION 

CHAPTER I 
SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

The Basis of Society: Preliminary considerations; enduring elements; 
idealism in America. 

Education Indispensable in Democracy: The reasons — (o) security 
of the state; (6) to increase knowledge and skill; (c) a birthright; (d) power 
and money essential; (e) school an aspect of democracy. 

The Meaning of Education: What is education? factors in education; 
education complex; universal education. 

Making Education Democratic: Individuahsm vs. collectivism; coopera- 
tion vs. force; progress against obstacles; needed reorganizations; univer- 
sities produce leaders; vision for men in industry. 

Teaching Democracy: Democracy and humanism; methods in securing 
ideals — (1) ultimate, single control; (2) didactic assertion; (3) curriculum 
changes; (4) expression or practice; (5) consciously developed attitudes; 
(6) emotionahsm; (7) specific education for patriotism; (8) health; (9) at- 
tendance, and cure of elimination; (10) vocational education not mere 
addition. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

The Basis of Society 

Preliminary considerations. In our study of the facts 
and principles underlying the movement for vocational edu- 
cation lower than college graae, we shall encounter contro- 
versial points, considerable descriptive matter illustrative 
of contemporary practice but difficult of interpretation, and 
many unsolved problems. The writer will be content if, in 
addition to the presentation of some facts and sound prin- 

1 



2 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

ciples deduced therefrom, he succeeds in stimulating in the 
reader a scientific as well as a sympathetic attitude toward 
these same unsolved problems of an important and interest- 
ing phase of public education. To become conscious of these 
problems and to bring to each question an attitude of open- 
mindedness and of kindly understanding, are steps more vital 
for progress than to offer as remedies ready-made solutions 
or pedagogical recipes. It is not easy to remove difficulties 
that have their deep root both in the characteristics of human 
nature and also in existing social and political conditions. 

One is tempted in trying to lead the reader toward a better 
knowledge of the vocational movement in education, to tarry 
long in the discussion of relevant facts concerning these charac- 
teristics of human nature, and of the underlying social and 
poUtical conditions which environ us. Of course, a thorough- 
going appraisal of systems of public education can be made 
only in the light of such preliminary considerations. We must 
be content, however, in the immediately following pages merely 
to suggest some of the psychological, social, and political start- 
ing points fundamental for our later and more descriptive pres- 
entations, and also to explain the various meanings attached 
to the term vocational education. All this we must try to do 
very briefly in the course of the first four or five chapters; then 
we may press on in the subsequent chapters to the exposition 
of the more specific and concrete matters of agricultural, in- 
dustrial, commercial, home-making, and other types of voca- 
tional education. The effort in the twelfth chapter to develop 
a technic for the practical application of the research-method 
will suggest fascinating and profitable fields for further study, 
revealing still more unsolved problems, but yielding the promise 
of a way of successful attack upon them through the applica- 
tion of scientific procedure. Finally, in view of widespread 
interest in the subject, we shall attempt an appraisal of psy- 
chology applied to industrial and educational problems. 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 3 

It will be difficult for a student following the above plan to 
keep quite distinct the matter that is controversial from that 
which is descriptive or expository. In this present chapter, the 
writer sets forth arguments that might be denied by some who 
are not old-fashioned Americans, but he sets these arguments 
forth, believing that the assumptions involved therein are 
fundamental to the perpetuation of true democracy and ethical 
ideahsm. The reader who may not accept his assumptions will 
at least be awakened to a consciousness of the basal issues in- 
volved, and will therefore be better prepared to weigh the claims 
of the vocational emphasis as contrasted with the cultural and 
disciphnary tradition in public education. All may agree that 
there are too many advocates of education, radical or reaction- 
ary, who have no adequate philosophy or background for their 
propaganda. 

Having in mind the necessity of discriminating in this field 
between opinion and fact, we may now proceed in the present 
chapter to consider certain basal facts about the evolution of 
knowledge, human skill, and ethical standards. These facts 
attest the necessity of developing ideals as well as skill and 
knowledge, if men are to live in peaceful society. Reasons 
follow to show that general public education in our democracy 
must have concerted support in order that knowledge, skill, 
and also ethical, altruistic standards, all three being indis- 
pensable for human welfare, may increase. Finally, in the 
present chapter we shall sum up the agencies or means useful 
in effecting this combination of knowledge, skill, and ethical 
idealism in our American democracy. 

Enduring elements. A combination of this kind is one of 
. the foundation-stones of civilization. Buildings, farms, ma- 
chinery, railroads, ships, guns, laboratories, and banks are neces- 
sary although vanishing utensils and products of society, but the 
essential and permanent element of democratic society is an 
ideal. No present exigency should be permitted to separate 



4 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

permanently the idealistic and the practical in an education 
supported by democracy — whether the "practical" be of the 
manual, or of the intellectual types of training. This is a good 
principle to set down at the outset of a discussion of a form of 
education that has much to do with production, the making of 
things, and the control of physical and chemical forces. (13) 

Emerging from primitive life mankind with the slow accumu- 
lation of knowledge and skill gained power. With skill came 
dominion over fire, light, the forest, the sea, and wild beasts; 
with added knowledge, disease and pestilences were also over- 
come, pain was diminished by anesthesia, and duration of life 
prolonged. Especially has the development of trained con- 
sciousness vanquished superstitions, and fear. However, 
knowledge and skill brought evils to mankind along with good. 
There are several kinds of evils and unhappiness that come to 
the race and to the individual with the evolution of knowledge : 
E. g., the man of thought foresees the inevitable course of nature 
in decay and death, — and these realizations may bring unhap- 
piness in hours of leisure. Rousseau thought fore-knowledge 
to be a true source of all our miseries. Ebbinghaus thinks 
that art and music had one primitive beginning in the reaction 
from this unhappiness, as well as in the expression of excessive 
or playful energies. Some formal expressions of religion may 
have begun in the reactions of man's consciousness of his relative 
minuteness and helplessness in the universe. (8) 

Still another unhappiness which results from knowledge, and 
for which society also has evolved a corresponding antidote, is 
the misuse of accrued knowledge and skill and power by the 
more fortunate or the stronger individuals and groups of men 
who follow low ideals or none, and exploit and even enslave their 
fellows. Thence came slavery, caste, robbery, wars of aggran- 
dizement — with their attendant long trains of evils, such as 
cruelty, ignorance, poverty, disease, weakness, and degenera- 
tion. However, the misuse of knowledge, skill, and power 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 5 

through centuries of costly experience has taught mankind that 
the majority must agree to unite in suppressing evil-doing. 
Ideals of conduct must be both defined and also maintained, 
as well as skill and knowledge. Some of these universalized 
agreements of society are written visibly in constitutions, 
statutes, and laws. Other consensuses regarding right conduct 
are invisible yet potent forces in the form of customs, tradi- 
tions, sentiments, and aims and ideals — the last being definite 
products of creative imagination. 

To us in America the word democracy is the symbol for all 
that is best in common agreement, sentiment, and determination 
of a collective people — whether expressed in book or in con- 
science. This solidarity of understanding and approval and 
feeling constitutes the psychic basis of democracy, and is the 
most real and durable element of the structure. The essential 
fact stands out clearly that neither knowledge nor skill nor both 
combined, can be sufficient for human welfare, especially in a 
democracy where the good of the people is cherished. Ability 
to make and enforce law, imagination to create aims and good 
ideals, and sentiments and emotions that react habitually to 
the true, beautiful and good — these are quite as essential as 
accumulation of fact, or as specialized accuracy and speed of 
coordinated brain, eye, and hand. Thus there is a psychological 
and ethical explanation for the development of a true vocational 
education to inculcate a combination of knowledge, skill, and 
idealistic sentiment — a basis indicated emphatically as indis- 
pensable in the hard experiences of the race. The unimagin- 
able suffering of the World War is a result that accrued where 
knowledge and skill, without controlHng aims and ideals truly 
democratic, were unleashed upon the world. 

Idealism in America. The democracy of the United States 
in points of magnitude, duration, economic progress, and reali- 
zation of individual liberty, surpasses the restricted Athenian 
democracy, is rivaled by superb France, and Switzerland, and 



6 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

shares the strong spirit of our brothers in Canada and England. 
Not alone is it wealth, potential and achieved, that drew 
here men of all races. We whose fathers have dwelt in America 
longest know that in our constitution and statutes, and habitu- 
ated in our every-day thinking, there are steadfast principles 
such as these: In the life of the individual there will be liberty 
compatible with the welfare of the majority of the inhabitants; 
freedom of personal development and expression will be main- 
tained, but standards of conduct will be established and pro- 
tected for the betterment of society. The zealous protection 
of women and children is seen in unremitting efforts toward 
progressive legislation to meet changing social and economic 
conditions, and there is cherished a survival of the nobler senti- 
ments of chivalry as concerns women and children. Equality 
of opportunity is a right, and cooperation in civic responsibiHty 
is a duty, in American democracy. Life in its fullness, true 
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness based on health, knowledge, 
and achievement, are as yet found nowhere on this globe, but 
.all these surely have been nearest to realization in the United 
States and in Canada, blessed of all countries of a world re- 
turned temporarily to fierce struggle for elemental things. In 
the social consciousness of seasoned Americans we can also dis- 
cern, aside from mawkish sentimentality, a collective, emotional 
reaction in which are mingled sentiments of admiration for our 
soil, our mountains, our lakes, our mines, and forests — for the 
very land itself and for the pioneer-conquerors of it, along with 
convictions held in common concerning the essentials of govern- 
ment and of union, that make for determined solidarity and 
brotherhood, a true patriotism for both peace and war. 

Education Indispensable in Democracy 

The reasons. If the essence of democracy consists of these 
habitual sentiments and convictions which are nourished in 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 7 

common by the increasing millions of our population, who never- 
theless are more and more remote in time from the aggressive 
spirits who established these principles in our land, then meas- 
ures can be undertaken by us who now live, for the strengthen- 
ing of such habits of mind until they become increasingly per- 
manent. The perpetuity of the elements of our democracy will 
b(3 uncertain, unless there be effective preparation to train each 
new generation, and all newcomers, for social participation in 
the manifold phases of modern life, as well as for industrial 
efficiency. The best instrument for this undertaking is the pub- 
lic educational system, from kindergarten through university. 

There are some persons who are still lukewarm or dubious 
about the mission or the efficacy of the public school supported 
as a fundamental phase of democratic life. Echoes survive of 
the voice of Herbert Spencer opposing education of a man's 
children by the government; and of J. S. Mill contending that 
education should be at the charge of the parent. On the other 
hand, strong notes for support and for fearless readjustments of 
pubHc education are being sounded to-day by trained schoolmen 
and women of enlightened, democratic spirit. One could easily 
adduce many expressions from publicists and American states- 
men firmly asserting the principle of the oneness of democracy 
and education. For example, "Educate and inform the whole 
mass of the people," said Thomas Jefferson, "no other sure 
foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and 
happiness." We prefer for our present purpose to tabulate in 
succession (a, b, c, d, e) the reasons why a government of true 
democracy, whatever may be its various administrative sub- 
divisions, supports public education. 

Reasons why the incorporated people should establish and 
maintain education have been formulated repeatedly by men of 
renown, from Plato to Woodrow Wilson. (5) A type of educa- 
tion is desirable for civilization even in a monarchy, but that 
universal education in a democracy is imperative appears from 



8 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

this summary of reasons, which deserve frequent repetition be- 
fore the youth of this country, and indeed before many peoples. 

(a) Security of the state. Since each child born is a possible 
factor either toward betterment or destruction of the state, the 
state in self-protection must be attentive to the conditions af- 
fecting the maturing of the plastic generation. (23) The suf- 
frage, the referendum, and the necessity for prevention of crime 
and degeneracy, each renders education an indispensable meas- 
ure for social security upon the part of the state. 

(b) To increase knowledge and skill. The accumulation of 
knowledge and skill has made man a master of fire and electricity. 
Through knowledge he has dispelled savage superstition, and 
conquered many plagues, and filled hours of leisure with music, 
art, and philosophy. The continuance of prosperity, sustenance, 
adequate supply of food and clothing and shelter for our en- 
larging population, measures of miUtary and naval defense, 
competition in commerce and industry, the disappearance of ap- 
prenticeship, the necessity of transmission of culture and moral- 
ity and law to our successors^all these vital conditions render 
necessary the support of pubHc education by concerted action 
of the people, in order to increase knowledge and skill. 

(c) A birthright. It is a fact in common experience, com- 
memorated by poets more remote than Lucretius, and attested 
by biology and psychology, that the human being is peculiarly 
helpless in infancy, a being immature, sensitively responsive to 
physical or psychic stimuli which environ him at birth and 
during infancy, childhood, and adolescence. As the lungs have 
a right to air, the stomach to food, eyes to sunlight — a demo- 
cratic view of life is that every child has a birthright to that 
environment best suited to his potentially useful capacities. The 
state controls this general environment into which the child is 
bom perforce (16). Therefore the state must assure to every 
child his birthright, an environment indicated best, we believe, 
by the concept "education," in its broad implication. 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 9 

(d) Power and money essential. The task of public education 
is so stupendous that only by the authority, powers, and re- 
sources of government can it be estabhshed and maintained, (23) 
The leadership and supreme authority in public education upon 
the part of authorized organization of the whole people, are not 
inconsistent with the operation of other useful agencies in edu- 
cation, private or denominational, conducted compatibly with 
the sound principles of humanism; principles which, we have 
faith to beheve, are at the basis of true Americanism. The state 
has power and money to support education, and the state alone 
can enforce universal standards regarding the health, the in- 
tellectual, and the industrial training, and ethical rules, stand- 
ards which are both incentives and also safeguards in the de- 
velopment of all the people. 

(e) School an aspect of democracy. Public education, in a 
sense, is, in fact, an aspect of democracy, one inevitable form 
of its expression. 

The Meaning of Education 

What is education? Better realization of the possibilities 
of democracy in assuring lile, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness, and more money for the school, might result from general 
deliberation upon the above often-stated reasons for the support 
of education by every phase of our organized people, be it 
federal, state, county, township, municipality, or other con- 
tributory agencies. It is opportune in this connection also 
to bring in rapid review before the people certain basal facts 
about the nature of education, its instruments, the difficulties, 
and the present status of this our greatest American undertak- 
ing. One could compile a small volume to include attempts at 
defining education. We may agree to indicate by the term the 
attempt to modify human beings in accordance with chosen 
ideals and aims. (22) 



10 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Factors in education. The broadening relations of educa- 
tion emphasize the truth that many elements and changes other 
than the teacher and the school are operative in modifying the 
human organism. It is necessary only to hint at the possible 
effects of climate, heat, cold, moisture, dryness, proximity to or 
remoteness from the sea, disease, occupation, the family, the 
crowd, the church, the press, the theater, peace, and war upon 
individuals, groups, or races. So impressive is the magnitude of 
modern educational machinery that the incessant operation of 
these other agencies of change in innumerable forms may be 
forgotten, if we neglect the fundamental characteristics of 
formal education as an undertaking to modify, to alter, to de- 
velop, or to suppress, the original inheritances of man's nature. 
We may not be able directly to cause or to prevent various 
changes in the young generation dwelhng daily for some years 
within the schoolhouse. It is convenient, when we define edu- 
cation as a formal process, to say that it is an effort to cause or 
to prevent modifications in human beings in accordance with a 
chosen aim or ideal, but at best, we can only manipulate stimuli 
and environment in a manner conducive to the desired changes 
in the human organism. 

Education complex. Education therefore is not properly a 
daily task for a sleepy pedagogue, a pedant, or a mere wage- 
earner. There are profound problems in physics, chemistry, 
zoology, physiology, psychology, hygiene, as well as in ethics, 
economics, industry, and occupations before the professional 
educator of to-morrow. Other subjects at this point are sug- 
gested which concern the more perfect realization of an educa- 
tional system, considered as an integral part of our developing 
structure of democracy. These subjects are: The nature of 
universal education, and the organization and practical admin- 
istration of universal education compatible with individualism 
and avoidance of waste, i. e., the problems of making education 
democratic and of teaching democracy. 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY U 

Universal education. Public education, as a deliberate at- 
tempt upon the part of the state to mold human beings, can 
have no narrow aim, restricted ideals, or be exclusive privilege 
of caste, of sect, of wealth, or of poverty. The process touches 
all ages of men, both sexes, all races, and is to be articulated with 
all socially desirable occupations of agriculture, forestry, animal 
husbandry; of the extraction of minerals; of the manufacturing 
and mechanical industries of the factory, building, or hand- 
trades; of commerce; of public service; of professional service; 
of domestic and personal activities; and with the merely clerical 
occupations. 

Universal education includes in its scope the appropriate 
training in skill, or in knowledge, of those human beings who 
exhibit extreme individual variation from their kind, whether 
the variation be destructive or abnormal, or one of unusual 
mental capacity, the supernormal, or of the defective — such 
as the feeble-minded, the confirmed delinquent; and it includes 
training of the bKnd, and the deaf, and the crippled, whether 
they be victims of birth, of industrial accident, or of war. 
There are to-day kindergartens, primary grades, grammar 
grades, intermediate schools, junior high schools, classical high 
schools, commercial high schools, technical high schools, in- 
dustrial, trade, continuation, part-time, and evening schools. 
Scores of differentiations in school work to adapt the school 
to individual and community need are familiar to us, e. g., 
open-air classes, oral teaching of the deaf, classes for epileptics, 
schools using the preventive mode of attack upon vice and crime. 
And in addition, utilized by a fractional percentage of our 
population (less than one per cent), there are the colleges, the 
professional schools, and the universities. Whatever may be 
one's verbal definition of universal education, a ghmpse of this 
Hst of typical kinds of educational machinery at work in our 
country reveals the presence of multitudinous, formal instru- 
ments of education which, if they were well coordinated for 



12 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

the higher purposes of democracy conceived as organized 
humanism, would constitute a near-reaUzation of universal 
education in practice. 

Naming solely in general terms the kinds of schools which 
we have developed in varied forms to meet different needs, is 
not sufficient to indicate fully the complexity and the magnitude 
of the task of maintaining practically a system of universal 
education. Within each school class there are differentiated 
types of groups and of individuals. The skillful adjustment of 
instruction to individual differences and to the inevitable 
groupings of the population are incessant difficulties in public 
education. Even pupils of the same chronological age differ 
in anatomical and physiological maturity, in mental growth, 
capacity and interests, and we shall illustrate in succeeding pages 
the manifold groupings into which mankind falls even in a 
relatively homogeneous population. 

Making Education Democratic 

Individualism vs. collectivism. Both collective striving for 
universal education and also the vigorous expression of in- 
dividualism are witnessed in our forms of educational ma- 
chinery. The present status is not without danger, lest conflict, 
waste, and chaos result from the failure to coordinate in prac- 
tical administration the whole school machinery of the nation, 
through the power of broadly democratic and educational 
ideals, clarified and made controlling in the thinking, customs, 
and laws of our swelling population. Educators often have 
wasted time in debates about words. The difficulties of some 
teachers in mental reconstruction, in surrendering personal 
prejudices (or, at least, in keeping in proper relation to each 
other those educational aims or ends which are immediate or 
proximate in nature, and in keeping them distinct from those 
ends, aims, and ideals which are consummate or ultimate in 
nature), are persistent obstructions to better realization of 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 13 

universal education. All of the traditional notions of formal 
and of mental discipline, e. g., culture, development, perfection, 
utility, knowledge, etc., as aims in education still have their 
place, and, clarified, doubtless will continue, but they will be 
subordinated to a high ultimate aim for education, an education 
intended to produce men and women who live in health, in 
economic productivity, in civic intelligence, in observance of 
standards of conduct, and in the happiness of brotherhood, 
whatever be the occupation or status of the individual. Neither 
crass materialism, on the one hand, nor obsolete asceticism, on 
the other, will suffice in place of this unifying conception of the 
mission of public education. 

An individualism bringing personal isolation — in essence 
selfishness and fear — is as incompatible with American de- 
mocracy as a radical socialism and collectivism which knows 
not the individual. In the struggle to define and maintain the 
sane and righteous balance between the demands of the in- 
dividual and of the group, comes the trial of democracy. A 
critic of the democracies so labelled in history, thinks that 
popular govermnents imply a breaking up of political power into 
morsels, and the giving to each person an infinitesimally small 
portion. "They (democracies) rest upon universal suffrage, 
which is the natural basis of tyranny; they are unfavorable to 
intellectual progress and the advance of scientific truth; they 
lack stability; and they are governments by the ignorant and 
unintelligent." Further, declares Maine, "By a wise constitu- 
tion democracy may be made as calm as the water in a great 
artificial reservoir; but if there is a weak point anywhere in its 
structure, the mighty force which it controls will burst through 
it and spread destruction far and near."(ll) Maine's fear of 
democracy seems based upon the assumption that prejudice 
and ignorance render the masses more dangerous than the 
controUing few, because the masses will run counter to scientific 
conclusions — and the agonies of Russia seem to support the 



14 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

theory. This expressed principle, however, illustrates first, 
the necessity of universal, public education including inculca- 
tion of sentiments of liberty, equality, fraternity, loyalty — 
the excellent prejudices of democracy, and secondly, the fact 
that they who control, be they representatives or be they mon- 
archs, must be animated by democratic ideals to guide the uses 
of science at their disposal. The public education we have 
achieved in America, and the encouraging success of our de- 
mocracy now adequately tested, demonstrate that we have 
learned how to upbuild and to perpetuate democracy through 
the instruments of public education and of ideals made potent 
in high places. 

Cooperation vs. force. ''An order in an autocracy is a com- 
mand, in a democracy it is a call to cooperation" — declares a 
modern phrase-maker. The effective organization, coordina- 
tion, and practical administration of all the resources of in- 
vestment, income, officials, and teachers enlisted in public 
education, might be promoted better through the spread of 
democratic idealism, and of clear-cut comprehensions of edu- 
cational science, than by the sudden centralizing of political 
power in education, or through undemocratic imposition of force 
by the Federal Government. Thus may we hope to bring into 
more effective articulation within our states the diverse forms 
of education maintained by the people, and also to include in 
this articulation more satisfactorily to all concerned the educa- 
tional instruments of the church and of endowed institutions. 

The seemingly unsatisfactory organization of American edu- 
cation can be understood only by reference to conditions of its 
origin and tremendous growth. Not referred to in the Federal 
Constitution, public education was an interest left to the states. 
The development of federal policies toward education has been 
slow but positive, as evinced by land grants, the establishment 
of the Bureau of Education, the passage of the Morrill Act and 
the Smith-Lever Act, the direct participation of governmental 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 15 

authorities in the educational work of Hawaii, the Philippines, 
Alaska, and Porto Rico, and by the enactment recently of the 
Smith-Hughes Act. We interpret the federal policy as one of 
encouragement, enlightenment, and aid toward education. 
Direction towards uniformity and minimal essentials, where 
these are desirable, without cramping individual or local initi- 
ative, is an increasing tendency discerned especially in the 
Smith-Hughes Act, the administration of which is being ob- 
served keenly by teachers and citizens. 

Progress against obstacles. Of interest are the present 
status and the evolution of characteristic state, county, town- 
ship, town and municipal organizations of education within 
our forty-eight states. Public education has developed in 
spite of early conditions adverse to education — the primitive 
conditions of the wilderness, poverty, persistent ideas of caste, 
the inevitable development of crazed radicals and of stubborn 
obstructionists among our millions of people, and amid the 
rapid economic changes due to exploration, increasing popula- 
tion, and the production and expenditure of amazing wealth. 
Students of educational organization, surveying to-day the fail- 
ures and successes in our administration of education, are able 
with some certitude to draw the outlines of better, if not ideal, 
organization of the forces of state, county, and municipality. 

Needed reorganizations. The important distinctions be- 
tween the lay function of educational control — that of legisla- 
tion, consideration of policies, finance, and the employment of 
experts, and the professional function — that of the expert 
executive, the director of departments, supervisors, principals, 
or teachers, are distinctions being better recognized. Boards 
and superintendents and teachers are improving. Neverthe- 
less, the reign of the district trustee is not ended. To the number 
of thirty thousand and more in some states they exert in zealous 
holding to an exploded notion of democracy, a varied and often 
paralyzing educational control of the schools. Rural education 



16 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

suffers from the delay in sensible county reorganization. Munic- 
ipalities are showing encouraging tendencies toward the small 
school board appointed, or elected at large, and the services of a 
trained and professional superintendent; but there are cities 
where schools still remain under the domination of political 
rings, and there are, alas, a few superintendents in name who 
are tools of cliques, excrescences upon both education and 
American democracy. 

Universities produce leaders. Statistics show that the 
leadership in great things as a rule has been held by men and 
women trained in our higher institutions of learning. This 
is a tribute to the efficiency of the hundreds of noble men and 
women who have given their lives to labors of instruction and 
research within our higher institutions. Their production of 
leadership does not seem to diminish. However, our universi- 
ties, state, endowed, and denominational, and our colleges, 
and normal schools, are undergoing scrutiny, questioning, and, 
in some instances, wholesome transformation. In the process of 
self-examination some strange products of systems of selection 
of men by mere criteria of degrees and publications, or worse, 
by sole criteria of personal, social, or political influence, are 
occasionally uncovered. Here and there men are found in 
normal schools, colleges, and universities, posing as peculiarly 
fit teachers of chosen youths in this democratic nation, men who 
might be employed better at simple manual labor, or in clerk- 
ships. Egotism, and oracularism parading in the name of 
science, complacency in the guise of the professional philosopher, 
ignorance and bad manners in the guise of a type of culture, anti- 
American, and anti-social notions flaunted in the name of prog- 
ress, small souls striving for livelihood, conspicuity, or leader- 
ship, whether in lower or in higher schools — such as these are 
aliens in the sphere of education for democracy. 

Vision for men in industry. A few conspicuous men in in- 
dustry have attempted publicly to belittle the work of the 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 17 

public school. Abuses in the schools exist, and these abuses 
demand correction. Many of the criticisms of individuals 
doubtless result from petty conceptions, ignorance, and wrong 
evaluat'on of personal successes. Thousands of men in industry 
and in professions directly serve the schools, as members of 
school boards, giving unselfishly of time and thought for the 
public welfare. Labor unions, and corporations, each group in 
turn, have established special vocational schools to meet urgent 
needs, or have entered into cooperative agreements with exist- 
ing public schools, thus evincing faith in formal education. 
Millions of dollars of taxation are contributed annually by 
citizens for the support of the schools — a matter of accepted 
custom and law. 

Not only do schools need transformation, but industry also 
needs modification continually to conform to the ideals of de- 
mocracy. A fair distribution of earnings between employer and 
employee, reasonable hours of labor, precautions against the 
evils of narrow specialization, and of "speeding up" processes, 
as they affect the individual, and the assurance of safety against 
industrial accidents and diseases of occupation, the protection 
of women and children in industry — all these are desirable ob- 
jects in industry, as well as are high-powered efficiency, and in- 
creased production. Education for workers in a democracy 
demands recognition of these objects, but in order to concede 
them, men who control both industries and schools must have 
far-reaching vision of the social significance of occupation. 

A real danger toward perpetuation of a caste tendency in 
our existing industrial system is thus expressed by the philos- 
opher John Dewey: 

Sentimentally, it may seem harsh to say that the greatest evil of 
the present regime is not found in poverty and in the suffering which it 
entails, but in the fact that so many persons have callings which make 
no appeal to them, which are pursued simply for the money reward 
that accrues. For such callings constantly provoke one to aversion, 



18 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

ill will, and a desire to slight and evade. Neither men's hearts nor 
their minds are in their work. On the other hand, those who are not 
only much better off in worldly goods, but who are in excessive, if not 
monopolistic, control of the activities of the many are shut off from 
equality and generality of social intercourse. They are stimulated to 
pursuits of indulgence and display; they try to make up for the dis- 
tance which separates them from others by the impression of force and 
superior possession and enjoyment which they can make upon others. 

It would be quite possible for a narrowly conceived scheme of voca- 
tional education to perpetuate this division in a hardened form. Tak- 
ing its stand upon a dogma of social predestination, it would assume 
that some are to continue to be wage earners under economic conditions 
like the present, and would aim simply to give them what is termed a 
trade education — that is, greater technical efficiency. Technical 
proficiencj' is often sadly lacking, and is surely desirable on all ac- 
counts—not merely for the sake of the production of better goods at 
less cost, but for the greater happiness found in work. For no one cares 
for what one cannot half do. But there is a great difference between a 
proficiency limited to immediate work, and a competency extended 
to insight into its social bearings; between efficiency in carrying out 
the plans of others and in forming one's own. At present, intel- 
lectual and emotional limitation characterizes both the employing 
and the employed class. (7) 

There are four vivid characteristics of our American education : 
First, the magnitude of present educational efforts, whether 
estimated by the twenty millions of young lives enrolled, or 
by the eight hundred millions of dollars expended yearly for 
education; secondly, the variability in educational organiza- 
tions, administration, methods, and expense; thirdly, the per- 
sistence of fundamental convictions, aspirations, and faith 
toward education in the minds of our one hundred millions of 
people, most of whom are toilers; fourth, the conflict between 
efficiency aims and ethical idealism. Now that the pillars of 
civilization have trembled, well may we pause to reflect upon 
our educational system as it affects democracy, to examine 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 19 

present democracy as affecting education, and to consider both 
education and democracy in the hght of human experience, in 
order that we may renew our zeal for our country and our be- 
hef in humanity. There should be no permanent gap between 
demogratic idealism and any form of public education. 

Teaching Democracy 

Democracy and humanism. We desire renewed cooperation 

by all agencies in education, by citizens and by teachers, the 
press, the churches, the homes, and industrial organizations, in 
order to conduct an education suited for life in our American 
democracy, which to-day presents the greatest opportunity 
in the world's history wherein to work out the ideals of human 
brotherhood. By a turning to practical idealism in our schools, 
we can all work profitably for democracy. If teachers, writers, 
preachers, industrial leaders, philosophers, and psychologists, 
would help to disseminate to the people clearer, simpler con- 
ceptions about the nature of education and its inevitable re- 
lations to the fundamentals of democracy, they would render a 
patriotic service the results of which should be enduring. 

We have referred to American democracy as symbolizing 
all that is best in common agreement, sentiment, and determi- 
nation of a collective people who have tested the worth of de- 
mocracy through the storms of more than a century. This 
experience and contemporary world events increase our con- 
fidence in the system and awaken forethought to safeguard and 
improve American democracy. There has been the matter of 
overcoming vicious idealism, autocracy, Prussian mihtarism, 
which have brought cataclysms. There is now amongst us some 
anarchism, and a pestilential propaganda called bolshevism. 
It is opportune to take up the matter of methods and means for 
perpetuating the best American habits, convictions, sentiments, 
and attitudes in the mind of the present and future public. 



20 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

These mental conditions constitute the foundation rock of our 
democracy. 

The schools, i^s well as the Army and Navy, are a tremendous 
engine for defense, and for effecting changes in human nature 
in times both of war and of peace. An idea inculcated firmly 
in the minds of the Prussian children of twenty or thirty years 
ago ("With God, for King and Fatherland") found atrocious 
expression in Belgium and on the high seas. In America we are 
reaping to-day the rich mental and social fruitage of the convic- 
tions concerning "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" inculcated 
in the minds of our children of a score of years ago, and of their 
fathers. Who can predict adequately, therefore, the ultimate 
results for humanity in the lives of the unnumbered millions yet 
to be born, if the schools of to-day should effectually inculcate 
the purest ideals of democracy refined in the fires of the cen- 
tury and a half of our national existence and in the recent ex- 
periences of the World War? 

Methods in securing ideals. Opportunity exists for those 
who are expert in the technique of instruction to discover and 
to evaluate all available methods of inculcating democratic 
ideals as consciously selected and followed goals in individual 
life. It is a phase of the complex problem of moral education, 
but the undertaking concerns in detail everything done in the 
school. Given the content for instruction in ideals the problem 
is to devise practical methods for making our ideals of democ- 
racy both conscious and also controlling in human lives. 

Great has been the demand for technique in imparting ele- 
mentary knowledge, and the present emphasis upon the vo- 
cational aspects of education now calls imperatively upon the 
teaching body for economical and effective methods for impart- 
ing skill in mechanical occupations. The present emergency 
magnifies the two demands for better methods for the acquisi- 
tion (a) of knowledge and (b) of mechanical skill. An important 
third issue appearing in each of these two problems— the acquisi- 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 21 

tion of liberal knowledge and the acquisition of technical skill, 
is the introduction of ethical idealism into all teaching whether 
for knowledge or for skill. It is not the purpose of our study 
to enter very far into the detail of this question, how to teach 
ideals, the answer to which has been sought ably by such teach- 
ers as Hall, Thorndike, Bagley, Dewey, and McMurry. Ross 
observes, — "The overwhelming majority of people, bad as well 
as good, respond to some ideal or other. Chesterton is not far 
wrong when he says: 'Eveiy man is idealistic; only it so often 
happens that he has the wrong ideal. Every man is incurably 
sentimental; but, unfortunately, it is so often a false senti- 
ment.' "(19) 

It is said in this connection that we need sorely the develop- 
ment of "industrial intelligence" as well as industrial skill. A 
broad interpretation of industrial intelligence reads into this 
expression (a) an ethical idealism, as well as (b) information 
about industries of economic value to accompany (c) skill in 
the sense of manual dexterity and training, coordination of 
brain, eye, and hand. 

We venture to lay down tentatively the following outline of 
ten means whereby the ideals of democracy and also industrial 
intelligence may be developed in our schools. In practical con- 
tact with private individuals and with social and civic groups 
the superintendent and the professional educator simultane- 
ously utilize many channels to move forward ethical idealism. 
A distinction fundamental is that between the lay (legislative) 
and the professional (executive, supervisory) functions in school- 
administration. The first of these functions belongs to school 
boards; hence we speak first of this matter of control. 

1. Ultimate, single control. Systems of public education 
whether organized into federal, state, municipal, county, or 
smaller units, should avoid rival boards of control. There 
should be ultimate, unitary control in order to enforce but one 
Jdnd of ideals, the ideals of democracy. Our Constitution and 



22 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

practices provide safeguards to prevent perversion of unitary 
control to permanent autocracy. Dual or entirely independent 
systems of elementary education supported by public funds, 
whether set up by irreconcilable educational factions, by re- 
ligious denominations, or by partisan politics, are essentially 
wasteful and promotive of caste and have not proved satis- 
factory upon trial. Adherence to single control, however, does 
not negate the value of temporary boards, commissions, or 
other bodies for educational control, organized to estabhsh 
neglected phases of education in the face of academic opposi- 
tion, and constituted with representatives of the schools, labor, 
and capital, and with restricted and defined powers. An example 
of this emergency type of board, or commission, was the Federal 
Board for Vocational Education, organized to cooperate vitally 
with State Boards and with the United States Bureau of Edu- 
cation and other federal bureaus and departments. Both the 
spirit and the letter of the Smith-Hughes Act demanded con- 
siderable cooperation and unity of effort rather than rivalry or 
dualism; ultimate control inhered in appeal to Congress as well 
as in the legislatures of the States. If the work of the Federal 
Board should be entirely absorbed by a national Department 
of Education, there should still remain a safe-guarding of one- 
ness of aim and administration compatible with democracy. 

A good type of unitary state control is one in which the Code 
and the Statutes of a state authorize: (1) A small, appointive, 
or elective-at-large Board of Education composed of intelhgent 
laymen; (2) that these laymen appoint an expert educator to 
discharge executive and professional functions as head of the 
State Department of Education; (3) that this executive (Com- 
missioner of Education) nominates other trained persons to be 
executives of various divisions of his Department, — such as 
Division of Elementary Education, Division of High Schools, 
Division of Vocational Education, Division of Health, Division 
of Educational Research, etc. The whole school system of the 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 23 

state thus may be coordinated for teaching consistent with 
democracy. Universities and other special institutions are in- 
cluded in the scope of the above plan with boards affiliated with 
the State Board; (4) Municipal and County Boards advan- 
tageously could be modelled in similar but simpler form. 

2. Didactic assertion, simple teaching of truths by word of 
mouth and by printed page has its place. Reaction from the 
Socratic doctrine that "virtue can be taught" need not lead us 
to utter abandonment of the principle that information, under- 
standing, facts, are conducive to steady action. When one con- 
siders the universality of imitation in the human mind, and the 
power of normal suggestion in modifying conduct of individuals 
and of groups — he is likely to magnify the utility of oral or 
written words in the inculcation of effective ideals. The ' ' winged 
word " is the most powerful of all instruments. The difficulty 
is that our words meant to convey deepest truths often lack the 
masterly utterance and timeliness of the great teachers — Jesus, 
Confucius, Socrates, Plato. 

3. Curriculum changes. Educational research has uncov- 
ered wasteful practices in treadmill repetition and some in- 
consistent courses of study in our elementary and secondary 
schools. Encouraging progress is being made toward economies 
of time and effort, which will give better opportunity for em- 
phasis upon the civic and ethical bearings of every subject in 
the curriculum. 

4. Expression or practice. Oral and incessant portrayal 
of ideals is not enough. There must be expression if the ideals 
are to be ingrained in life. Opportunities for development of 
expression inhere in the school, in shop, in play, in social or- 
ganizations, in participation of pupils in the multiplying ac- 
tivities incident to the war, such as thrift campaigns, gardening, 
and the Boy Scout movement. The day is past when the teacher 
of language, or mathematics, or manual training, or science, or 
history, or civics, or hygiene, may consider safely his subject 



24 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

as of value in itself and to be taught to receptive or merely ab- 
sorptive students regardless of any bearings that the subject 
may have upon active or community life. Every teacher may 
consciously indoctrinate and make active the principles of de- 
mocracy as revealed in his subject — be they the subordinate 
principles of culture, discipline, utility, knowledge, or skill. 
Only teachers who can do this thing are fully qualified for public 
education. There are abundant potential avenues in the schools 
for putting into practice the choicest ideals of equality, fra- 
ternity, liberty, fair play, team spirit, manly competition, 
sympathy, love of our country. 

5. Consciously developed attitudes. The development of 
educational psychology has brought forward facts and methods 
of some general value to educational practice, as witness the 
psychology of instincts, of habit, of interest, of attention, of 
formal discipline, of the learning process, etc., the psychology of 
the elementary and high school subjects, and the tendency to- 
ward experimentation, or trial, rather than toward dependence 
upon debate and oratory in educational advancement. Some 
new light also has been thrown upon the psychology of preju- 
dices, set convictions, emotional attitudes. (Ic) Attitudes may 
be in large measure the product of controllable factors or situa- 
tions. It would seem that in the matter of inculcating ideals, 
and those mental complexes called attitudes, which embody 
both ideas and emotional factors — opportunity appears for 
practitioners of applied psychology to tell us more definitely 
how to develop consciously those desirable prejudices toward 
the good, which may be utilized in the development of individual 
character and for the stability of our democratic society. 

6. Emotionalism. Aims and ideals to live in conduct must 
be rooted in the impulses, feelings, emotions and sentiments 
that often motivate life more deeply than perception or than 
reasoning. Cold-blooded analysis of fact, verbal portrayals 
of truth immaculate in rhetoric, but somehow totally lacking 



, SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 25 

the qualities of appeal, are not always sufficient in teaching 
ethical and national ideas to pupils. Music, poetry, drama, real 
oratory, personal appeal, the Flag, the Church, each has a vital 
function not to be neglected and not to be relied upon as ex- 
clusively sufficient. 

7. Specific education for patriotism. The sentiment of 
patriotism is a refined form of emotion. Abiding patriotism in 
the individual includes definite ideas developed by the people 
of the nation as concerns the common good, equality, liberty, 
and the principles for which our fathers fought. It includes also 
the affective glow of feeling which combined with the ideas 
about principles, pioneers, country, constitute the sentiment of 
patriotism — a subtle sentiment to analyze, but a real, stupen- 
dously powerful social energy. The point is, there are definite 
ideas and facts to be nourished in engendering patriotism, ideas 
found in the Declaration of Independence, in the Constitution, 
in the non-sectional history of our country, and in the expres- 
sion of choice thoughts of our great men. E. g. : thus spoke 
on July 4, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson at the tomb of 
Washington: 

The associations by which we are here surrounded are the inspiriting 
associations of that noble death which is only a glorious consummation. 
From this green hillside we also ought to be able to see with compre- 
hending eyes the world that lies about us and should conceive anew the 
purposes that must set men free. 

It is significant — significant of their own character and purpose and 
of the influences they were setting afoot — that Washington and his 
associates, like the barons at Runnymede, spoke and acted not for a 
class but for a people. It has been left for us to see to it that it shall 
be understood that they spoke and acted not for a single people only 
but for all mankind. 

They were thinking not of themselves and of the material interests 
which centered in the little groups of landholders and merchants and 
men of affairs with whom they were accustomed to act, in Virginia 



26 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

and the colonies to the north and south of her, but of a people which 
wished to be done with classes and special interests and the authority 
of men whom they had not themselves chosen to rule over them. 

They entertained no private purpose, desired no peculiar privilege. 
They were consciously planning that men of every class should be 
free and America a place to which men out of every nation might re- 
sort who wished to share with them the rights and privileges of free 
men. (24) 

Teachers who nourish in their hearts loyalty to American 
ideals, and who know enough of history, tradition, and litera- 
ture to supply the indispensable basis of fact are the ones 
qualified to instill patriotism, and no others are. Whether the 
teacher's subject of instruction be German or science, Latin or 
gymnastics, English or machine work, the building trades, or 
home economics — the qualifications for loyalty and patriotism 
are essential in our democracy. 

8. Health. "While some gifted persons may possess strong 
wills in spite of weak bodies, for most people physical and moral 
vigor are connected intimately," remarks Neumann. (18) Sam- 
uel Johnson's remark that the sick man is a scoundrel is given 
some credence by the numerous instances where vice, intemper- 
ance, gross indolence, harmful fears, obsessions, fanaticism, and 
crazed radicalism may be traced to bad health or physical 
weakness. One of the other functions of public education, in 
addition to the establishment of standards of individual conduct 
compatible with democracy and the development of individual 
capacity to share in social life, is to provide the best conditions 
for the conservation of physical strength, for the prevention 
of disease and of accident. New meaning therefore will attach 
to the administration of all valid health and safety measures 
in our effort to conduct a public education conducive to the up- 
building of true democracy. In our emphasis upon the spiritual, 
or upon ethical ideahsm, we cannot afford to ignore the other, 
the physical aspect of the human organism, whatever may be 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 27 

our metaphysical theory of the nature of the mind-body rela- 
tion. 

9. Attendance, and cure of elimination. Our public schools 
will never serve completely all the people (a) until we achieve 
compulsory and regular attendance during an adequate school 
year, and (b) until the present evil of premature elimination is 
overcome. Schools which in upper grades and in the high schools 
educate only a small, fortunate fraction of the population may 
be contributing to caste and an aristocratic tendency. That 
less than a seventh of the pupils who enter the first elementary 
grade have been graduating at the average American high 
school is due to factors in the pupil, in society, and in 
the school, worthy of serious study and determined remedial 
effort. 

10. Vocational education not mere addition. Merely to 
add vocational courses to the existing school as though they 
were something entirely different from the educational process 
and intended only for a distinct group of pupils is a wrong con- 
ception of public education. The whole fabric of education — 
elementary, secondary and higher, needs renovation in accord 
with a vocational end compatible with democracy and universal 
education. This renovation should be accomplished in a con- 
structive spirit taking care to conserve, not to destroy, the best 
in existing schools. 

The schools of the past half century succeeded marvelously 
in safeguarding the ideals of democracy. Otherwise, how came 
during the World War the unanimity of action, the oneness of 
purpose and of whole-hearted effort of our people working and 
fighting to preserve the best of civilization and to make the 
world "safe for democracy"? 

Our industrial unpreparedness and inability to furnish trained 
men quickly for and from those industries demanding skilled 
labor was revealed during the War as a weak point in the prod- 
uct of our schools. The problem of rectifying our errors in 



28 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

industrial education and, indeed, of supplying adequate voca- 
tional training of many other kinds is emphasized for schoolmen 
and citizens by the World War. In the meantime, we will con- 
tinue to conserve and cherish the best in our educational system, 
which delivered for world service our armies of millions of young 
men — healthy, clean-minded, efficient, imbued with the ardor 
and conviction of democracy. 

Summary 

1. Thoroughgoing discussion of vocational education lower than 

college grade, especially a discussion including reference to 
the historical background, the psychology of human nature, 
and the concrete practices in the field, inevitably encounters 
controversial along with descriptive matter. We may safely 
accept the statement that the evolution of human society 
reveals the necessity of ethical ideals along with the increas- 
ing skill of hand and accumulating knowledge. Disaster 
and horrors have come repeatedly to individuals and to 
peoples because of neglect of this principle. In democracy 
it cannot be forgotten. 

2. Formal education, in the schools, is the recognized instru- 

ment for perpetuating skill, knowledge, and ideals. The 
five specific reasons why the state, as the incorporated 
people, must support education, should be familiar to 
every student and citizen. 

3. Education, regarded as process, is the effort to make or to 

prevent changes in human beings according to some aim 
and ideal. There are numerous controllable factors in 
effecting these changes, some within, others without the 
school. The undertaking is highly complex and chal- 
lenges the best professional thought and energy when we 
accept the program of universal education. 

4. The common ideals of American democracy are pretty well 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 29 

established, known or felt. Theorists who bring up alleged 
difficulties in reconciling the claims of individuals and of 
groups within the schools are needlessly alarmed. The 
traditional ideals of the past vigorously advocated for 
education by eminent individuals or by collective groups 
great or small, can be reconciled by the application of the 
principle of relativity or balancing of aims. The individual- 
ism bringing voluntary personal isolation — in essence 
selfishness or fear, is as incompatible with American de- 
mocracy as a radical socialism and collectivism which 
knows not the individual. In general, the ideals of Ameri- 
can democracy have thoroughly dominated our public 
schools, which have had enormous growth in spite of early 
obstacles. In articulating the schools with industry, men 
in industry as well as pupils and teachers in the schools 
need a broad vision of the significance of education and of 
the dignity of human labor rightly directed. 
It is futile dogmatism to lay down unchangeable rules of 
method whereby democracy may be safeguarded always 
in the schools. The undertaking is one that demands pe- 
culiar vigilance, intelligence, loyalty. The new emphasis 
upon the vocational aspects of education, however, necessi- 
tates effort to formulate tentatively the important means 
to supply the needed safeguard. We have enumerated ten 
in number, as suggested by these topics: (1) Securing an 
ultimate single not dual control; (2) didactic assertion of 
ideals; (3) curriculum changes; (4) emphasis upon prac- 
ticing ideals; (5) development of fixed attitudes; (6) regu- 
lated emotionalism; (7) specific education in patriotic 
facts; (8) conservation of health as the basis of sane thought; 

(9) cure of premature elimination of pupils from school; 

(10) regarding vocational education as more than a mere 
addition and recognizing the need of educational reorgani- 
zation. 



30 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

We have been speaking of the benefits of general pubUc edu- 
cation as a factor in safeguarding democracy, and as the engine 
to build ethical ideals as well as knowledge and skill. We are 
concerned definitely in this book only with one important as- 
pect of public education — the vocational. In the next chapter, 
therefore, we must examine the meaning of the phrase "voca- 
tional education." 

Problems 

1. Is there any particular kind of existing school best suited to 

inculcate democratic ideals in the minds of the people? 
Describe it. 

2. Formulate arguments for the public support of different 

phases of education, — i. e., (a) physical, (b) moral, (c) in- 
tellectual, (d) industrial. 

3. Seek concrete cases to show the distinctions between knowl- 

edge and skill. 

4. Explain the meanings of the concepts, altruism, humanism, 

socialism, individualism, anarchy, egotism, obsession. 

5. Show how Prussian ideals modified the course of the World 

War. 

6. To what extent are opportunities for universal education 

offered in your state or city, or county? 

7. Tabulate reasons alleged by some persons as opposing the 

public schools. Consider each allegation. 

8. In the technique of teaching ideals, what other means are 

promising in addition to the ten enumerated? 

9. What is your ultimate, highest general aim in life? State 

various immediate or contributory aims, or ideals. 

10. In what ways has the World War made plain certain ex- 

cellencies and defects of our pubUc schools? Apply the 
question to your local school system. 

11. Before reading the following chapter, endeavor to formu- 

late different interpretations of the phrase "vocational 
education." 



SAFEGUARDING AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 31 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Bagley, W. C. 

(a) Classroom Management; Its Principles and Technique. N. Y., 

1907, 322 p. 
(fe) Craftsmanship in Teaching. N. Y., 1911, 247 p. 
(c) Educational Values. N. Y., 1911, 267 p. 

2. Bechterew, W. M. (tr. P. Keraval; from Russian). La suggestion et 

son role dans la vie socials. Paris, 1910, 270 p. 

3. Binet, Alfred. La suggestibilite. Paris, 1900, 392 p. 111. 

4. Cubberley, E. P. State and County Educational Reorganization. 

N. Y., 1914, 257 p. 

An attempt to set forth in its larger outlines the main lines of edu- 
cational organization and administration along which we must 
travel if substantial educational progress is to be made. 

5. Cubberley, E. P., and Elliott, E. C. State and County School Ad- 

ministration. N. Y., 1915, 729 p. 

A source book of materials, pertinent documents, and typical 
records illustrative of principles of state and county school adminis- 
tration. 

6. Deffenbaugh, W. S. Current Practice in City School Administration. 

U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin 8, 1917, 98 p. Data concerning 
school board organization, administration, and supervision in Ameri- 
can cities. 

7. Dewey, John. Democracy and Education. N. Y., 1916, 434 p. 

8. Ebbinghaus, Hermann. Psychology (tr. and ed. by Meyer). Boston, 

1908, 215 p. 111. 

9. Education in Patriotism. U. S. Bureau of Education Leaflet 2, 1918, 

10 p. A synopsis of the manifold agencies at work. 

10. Flexner, Abraham. A Modern School. The General Education 

Board. N. Y., 1917, 24 p. 

11. Garner, James Wilford. Introduction to Political Science. N. Y., 

1910, 616 p. Pp. 318-321. A text-book setting forth important 
theories concerning the origin, nature, functions, and organization 
of the state. 

12. Hall, G. S. Educational Problems. N. Y., 1911, 2 v. 

13. Hill, David S. The Psychology of Democracy in Public Education. 

Scientific Monthly, May, 1919, pp. 442-455. 

14. Maine, Henry. Popular Government. N. Y., 1886, 251 p. 

15. McDonald, R. A. F. Adjustment of School Organization to Various 

Population Groups. N. Y., 1915, 145 p, 



32 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

16. McKechnie, W. S. The State and the Individual. Glasgow, 1896, 

451 p. 

17. McMurry, Charles. Conflicting Principles in Teaching and How to 

Adjust Them. N. Y., 1917, 290 p. 

18. Neumann, Henry. Moral Values in Secondary Education. U. S. 

Bureau of Education Bulletin 51, 1917, 37 p. A report of the Com- 
mission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education, appointed 
by the N. E. A. 

19. Ross, Edward A. Social Psychology. N. Y., 1912, 372 p. 

20. Sutherland, Alexander. The Origin and Growth of the Moral Instinct. 

London, New York, 1898. 2 v. 

21. Terman, L. M. Health of the School Child. N. Y., 1914, 417 p. 

22. Thorndike, E. L. Education, N. Y., 1912, 292 p. 111. 

23. Wilson, Woodrow. The State. Boston 1908, 656 p. Elements of 

historical and practical politics. 

24. Wilson, President Woodrow. 

(a) War Message to the American Congress. 

(b) Address at the tomb of George Washington, July 4, 1918. 



CHAPTER II 
THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Contemporary Demands and Interpretations: What is vocational edu- 
cation? Demands for the practical. Different provisions needed. Divorce 
impracticable. 

Six Contemporary Interpretations: (a) Fad; (6) the narrowly practical; 
(c) production vs. consumption; (d) specialized efficiency vs. adaptability; 
(e) utility; (/) vocational education compatible with idealism. 

Educational Ideals and Distinctions: Balancing aims; divisions of vo- 
cational education; practical arts courses distinct. 

Standardizing Terms: (1) Vocational education; (2) professional edu- 
cation; (3) vocational commercial education; (4) commercial arts educa- 
tion; (5) vocational agricultural education; (6) agricultural arts education; 
(7) vocational industrial education; (8) industrial arts education; (9) 
vocational home-making education; (10) household arts education; (11) 
nautical education; (12) day vocational schools; (13) evening vocational 
schools; (14) continuation schools; (15) prevocational education; (16) 
vocational guidance. 

Characteristics of German Schools: Dangers in imitation; Volksschule, 
Gymnasium, Realschule; privileged groups; predestination; Fortbildung- 
schulen; Vorschulen and Einheitschulen; threefold errors; fallacies felt; 
no autocracy in America; curricula not static. 

Summary, Problems. Selected References. 

Contemporary Demands and Interpretations 

What is vocational education? The phases of education 
concerned chiefly with the practical appUcations of knowledge 
and skill in vocations (e. g., the occupations of the home; of 
the farmer; of the mechanic and factory worker; of the railroad, 
or nautical, or automobile man; of the miner; of the tradesman, 
merchant, clerk, or banker; of the barber, cook, waiter, janitor; 
of the engineer, doctor, minister, lawyer, journalist, artist, etc.) 

33 



34 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

these are types of vocational education. Stripping the term of * 
restricted meanings, we understand vocational education to be 
a phase of education emphasizing specific preparation for and 
participation in occupations of social value. If one should claim 
that the training of thieves, adulterators, and social parasites 
is vocational education, then the criterion of "social value" 
prevents the implication. Further on we shall see that 
one service of educational research is to disclose conditions 
that will estop the schools from training youth for blind- 
alley jobs, or aiding in schemes for the exploitation of boys 
and girls. 

Monroe (15) emphasizes the fact that in a sense all education 
is vocational because it aims to prepare for the more efficient 
and satisfactory performance of the activities of life. Liberal 
education in a sense is vocational, for it aims to prepare for 
the life of the gentleman, the statesman, the man of public 
affairs, or the ecclesiastic. It aimed to produce the philosopher 
of Greece, and the orator of Rome. Elementary education in 
its early historic stages was vocational, since it was preparatory 
to some higher form of education, (in the ordinary usage of 
the words, vocational education has become differentiated 
from the more general aspects of education. It includes train- 
ing in the practical application of knowledge and for distinct 
groups of workers, and is obtained both within and also out- 
side of the schoolhouse. | It is usually a difficult undertaking to 
preserve the differentiation of labor, methods, and equipment 
which make for occupational proficiency, without neglecting 
the development of the prospective worker into a citizen and 
man. The difficulty of access to the other, i. e., liberal educa- 
tion, once a youth is committed to any specialized vocational 
training, was one deplorable element in the Prussian schools. It 
aided the stratification of society into autocratic, cruel masters 
on the one hand, and efficient but automatically subservient 
people on the other. 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 35 

Demands for the practical. The recent years of the world 
have revealed unprecedented economic conditions, and these 
raise the question, what has the education predominant in the 
public school to do, what part does it play, in the status of 
those (1) persons who are employed unhappily, as misfits; (2) 
persons who are employed viciously; (3) persons who are tem- 
porarily unemployed; (4) persons who are unemployable; (5) 
persons who are happily and usefully employed? 

Some critics have jumped to the conclusion that the schools 
having under control the majority of the population during 
ea^rly years of plasticity, are therefore chiefly responsible for 
unfavorable social and economic conditions. Reckless criti- 
cism forgets the principle set forth in an ancient Hindoo saying, 
that a man obtains a fourth of his education from nurture, 
a fourth from growth, a fourth from his companions, and a 
fourth from the school. The responsibility of the school in se- 
curing the health of the people, economic productivity, the 
transmission of knowledge and of skill, the establishment of 
standards of conduct — is supreme, but a sound educational 
theory and practice can not ignore other factors in the educative 
process. We refer to the home, the playground, the street, the 
theater, press, church, nutrition and food, climate, and occu- 
pation. 

Dissatisfaction with existing schools has also been fed by 
journalism. For example, here is quoted a widely-dissem- 
inated article by an able popular writer, Dr. Frank Crane, in 
McClure's, during 1917. 

THE UNTRAINED 

I have just graduated from the High School. I am supposed to be 
educated. The City has provided me for some years with skilled 
teachers and expensive apparatus of all kinds. I will tell you a few 
things I don't know. 

I know by heart several slices of Goethe and Schiller; but I don't 
know how to ask in German for a piece of bread and butter. 



36 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

I know some irregular French verbs; but if I were lost in the streets 
of Paris I couldn't ask my way home. 

I can say amo, amas, amat, also e?i to oikio ton anthropon horo, but 
I cannot keep the ledger at my father's store nor send out his monthly 
statements. 

I am half-back on our team and know the quirks of passing the ball; 
but I don't know how to build a woodshed or shingle a roof. 

I can extract the square root of 9,273,642; but I don't know how to 
extract the milk from our cow. 

I know how to parse a sentence from Macaulay's Essays; but I 
don't know how to light a match in the wind or how to chop down a 
tree. 

I have studied Political Economy until my head is full of raw theories 
and long words; but I don't know the name of the alderman from our 
ward nor the congressman from our district. 

I can prove that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum 
of the squares of the base and perpendicular; but I don't know how 
to hang wall-paper, put in a pane of glass or paint a buggy. 

I have taken fifty lessons in Chemistry; but I don't know enough to 
keep alcohol out of my system, I know nothing of food values and 
gorge myself on what pleases my palate. 

I received eighty-five per cent in English Literature; but I couldn't 
get fifteen dollars a week writing news for a newspaper, I can't write 
a readable letter, and my average conversation is about on a level with 
the sporting page. 

I don't know who our mayor is and nothing of our city government; 
but I know the names and have the pictures of all the prominent ac- 
tresses, prize-fighters and base-ball stars. 

I can order drinks at the Country Club; but I can't churn a good 
mess of butter, I don't know when to plant beans, I have no idea what 
kind of soil is good for corn, I can't tell a slippery elm from a hickory 
tree, I don't know the names of the grasses, mosses, ferns, and flowers 
in the woods I tramp over, I can't fry fish nor make coffee nor biscuit, 
and I don't know the names of the stars I see every night in the sky. 

Nobody has made me understand how to control my appetites, 
nor the laws and dangers of sex feeling, nor the need of discipline, nor 
the art of engaging conversation, nor the true nature of happiness. 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 37 

I was educated according to the ancient formulas for producing a 
scholar and a gentleman, and I find I have to work for a living. I have 
no taste nor love for hard work, no habits of saving, no disposition to 
resist temptation, and no skill in doing anything the world is willing 
to pay for. I am wholly untrained for efficiency; and before I 
make good I will have to undo most that has been done to me in 
school. 

Different provisions needed. The investigations and re- 
ports of the National Society for the Study of Education are 
evidence that encouraging progress is being made throughout 
the country in the reorganization and betterment of elementary 
and secondary education. Surveys of higher educational in- 
stitutions, and of city and state systems, also indicate interest 
and progress. The passage of the Smith-Hughes Act for the 
promotion of vocational education below college grade and its 
acceptance by the States, were signs of intelligent recognition of 
the particular claims of vocational education. 

One claim of vocational education, as distinguished from 
practical arts education and from general and liberal education, 
is that different provisions are necessary in order to make it 
an actual preparation for and participation in, occupations of 
social value. Its activities so closely resemble, or are so nearly 
identical with the activities of industry, that the hours, methods, 
equipment, and control of vocational education must be in 
some respects different from those of the average, old-time 
elementary or high school giving instruction in the conven- 
tional, bookish subjects, and by traditional devices. Especially 
are demanded vocational instructors trained both in books, 
and also in industrial occupations through actual contact, and 
in the elements of educational science and art as well. This is a 
vaHd claim to be admitted by the school man. However, the 
admission does not disregard the necessity of ultimate unitary 
control of all public education as a sound policy of educational 
organization and statesmanship. 



38 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Divorce impracticable. It has yet to be demonstrated any- 
where in the world that, in the education of an individual spe- 
cialized vocational education can be divorced safely and perma- 
nently from general and liberal education. There are hours, 
weeks, semesters, years during which one's attention must be 
exclusively centered upon the acquisition of specific skill and 
practical knowledge — but during the active years of every 
human being under democracy, there must be provided ready 
access to the choicest fruits of general and of liberal education. 
Several considerations strengthen this conviction. 

First, in our eagerness to supply the special skill and knowl- 
edge of operation, process, or trade, needed for individual pro- 
motion and social economy, we are prone to overlook the fact 
that eveiy active person has along with his dominant occu- 
pation, life-work, or vocation, many other occupations. Says 
Dewey: (5) "In the first place each individual has of necessity 
a variety of callings, in each of which he should be intelligently 
effective; and in the second place, any one occupation loses its 
meaning and becomes a routine keeping busy at something in 
the degree in which it is isolated from other interests. No one 
is just an artist and nothing else, and in so far as one approxi- 
mates that condition, he is so much the less developed human 
being; he is a kind of monstrosity. He must at some period of 
his hfe be a member of a family; he must have friends and com- 
panions; he must either support himself or be supported by 
others, and thus he has a business career. He is a member of 
some organized political unit, and so on. We naturally name 
his vocation from that one of the callings which distinguishes 
him, rather than from those which he has in common with all 
others. But we shall not allow ourselves to be so subject to 
words as to ignore and virtually deny his other callings when it 
comes to a consideration of the vocational phases of education." 

In the second place, utter specialization of education, divorced 
from liberal education, would be impracticable because of the 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 39 

existing multiplicity of trades, occupations, operations, and 
processes. A mere glance at the last government census of 
thousands of occupations (Census 1910, volume IV), reminds us 
of the absurdity of erecting a distinctive, isolated course of 
study for each of the ever changing, endlessly varied forms 
of human labor. (17) 

Thirdly, there are some phases of general and of liberal edu- 
cation of common value to most occupations. Liberal educa- 
tion that is not pseudo in content, method, or result, should 
promote in the individual such abihties and traits as these: 
health; knowledge and skill in the elements of reading, writing, 
arithmetic, personal and civic hygiene, history, and geography; 
some factual acquaintance with scientific knowledge, and an 
appreciation of scientific method; habits of enjoyment of the 
true, beautiful, and good, in science, nature, art, literature, and 
people; emotional attitudes and conscious aims, that will sen- 
sibly subordinate and regulate the various motives and purposes 
of individual life to ultimate ideals of democracy and brother- 
hood. 

Unfortunately, declares Dewey, liberal culture by tradition 
has been linked to notions of leisure, purely contemplative 
knowledge, and a spiritual activity not involving the active 
use of bodily organs. Culture has tended to be associated with 
a private refinement, a cultivation of certain attitudes of con- 
sciousness separate from either social service or direction. Arm- 
chair reformers have assumed a gap between labor and leisure, 
practice and theory, body and mind, knowing and doing. 

Six contemporary interpretations. Democracy flourishes 
upon intelligent discussion. Extreme use of the principle has 
occasionally been exhibited in talk about the meanings of the 
adjectives vocational, cultural, liberal, general, manual, special- 
ized, etc. The reader may be interested in reviewing some typi- 
cal contemporary interpretations of vocational and of liberal 
education. However, the supposed antithesis between the 



40 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

liberal and the vocational is no new discovery, the elements 
of present day debate being found in the discussions of Aris- 
totle, Socrates, and Plato. Here follow six examples of con- 
temporary interpretations (A, B, C, D, E, F) of the expression 
"vocational education." 

A. Vocational education a fad. Resentful of efforts at pro- 
gressive change, or educational readjustment, a minority care- 
lessly labels all aspects of the vocational movement as "fads," 
or "sops to soothe labor and capital." 

B. The narrowly practical. Vocational education is con- 
ceived as merely a special variety of inanual training, or of 
agricultural, or commercial, or trade training, etc. 

C. Production vs. consumption. Vocational education is 
conceived as essentially education for production, contrasted 
with liberal education conceived as education for consumption. 
David Snedden, an advocate of this distinction, thus explains: 

Liberal education may be defined in various ways, but to the writer, 
the most serviceable definition is to be made by contrasting liberal 
with vocational education in the same way that production and con- 
sumption (or utilization) are contrasted in social and economic life. 
Vocational education is designed to make of a person an efficient pro- 
ducer; liberal education may be designed to make of him an effective 
consumer or user. The liberally educated man utilizes the products and 
services of many producers ; but because of his education he uses them 
well, both in the individual and in the social sense. Through the ef- 
fective utilization of such products and services he raises the plane of 
his own life; and, none the less, he elevates the sources of the goods and 
labor which he employs. He uses good literature, rather than bad; he 
exacts from other producers expert rather than untrained and fraudu- 
lent service; in his contacts he puts a premium upon good taste, re- 
finement, and right morality; and in the sphere of more material con- 
sumption, his demands lead to improvement both in the quality of the 
goods he obtains and in the social conditions surrounding their pro- 
duction. His utilization elevates himself and also the world because of 
his appreciation, his insight, his sympathy. (22) 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 41 

D. Specialized efficiency vs. adaptability. Vocational educa- 
tion is for specialized efficiency, and liberal education is for pro- 
viding adaptability to changing conditions. This viewpoint of 
W. C. Bagley, offered before the National Education Associa- 
tion during 1914 in opposition to the views of David Snedden, 
is supported by the former with these considerations: 

(1) Production and consumption are merely convenient abstrac- 
tions of the economist for the promotion of clear thinking. 

(2) No sharp distinction can be drawn between a man as producer 
and consumer. Certain fundamental activities, such as citizenship 
and home relations, — can not be classified as predominately productive 
or consumptive. 

(3) The distinction between production and consumption "per- 
petuates an older prejudice under which the so-called liberal education 
already suffers too much. I refer to the notion that the liberal educa- 
tion is in some way opposed to the practical things of life." (17) 

E. Vocational education is for utility. Utility, a word used 
in more than one sense, has been applied often to denote the 
end of vocational education. Sometimes the term is meant to 
imply something not as good as culture, knowledge, etc., or at 
least merely the bread-and-butter end. 

Leake, a Canadian writer, reminds us that our educational systems 
should prepare us to lead a worthy life, but that no one can live a worthy 
life who is unable to make a living. ... In the present economic con- 
dition of society the bread-and-butter problem is the great question 
of life for the large majority, and is one of the most logical and effective 
arguments that can be made. It is the manifest duty of the State, if it 
be truly democratic, and if it be organized on the principle of the great- 
est good to the greatest number, to make the chief work of the elemen- 
tary schools that of training the great bread-winner, the hand, assum- 
ing of course the self-evident proposition that the hand cannot be ef- 
fectively trained without at the same time training the head. (12) 

E. L. Thorndike, in evaluating educational aims and speaking to the 
same point, expresses these views : "It is true that the money-price which 



42 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

an act or quality of mind or body brings in the world is not a right 
measure of its real value to the world. For instance, the discovery of 
truth and the bearing of worthy children, the two things most essential 
to the world's welfare, are, as a rule, not paid for at all. A writer of 
advertisements is paid more than a poet; and a crafty trader in soap 
more than the best physician. But it is also true that in many cases 
the money-price paid is a symptom and a partial measure of real worth. 
The graduate who has learned nothing for which the world will pay 
may in a few rare cases be a great scientist or poet or social reformer, 
but he will far more often be a mere incompetent. . . . 

"A contrast is also often drawn between the 'bread-and-butter' stud- 
ies and those which give culture and refinement. This is unjust to 
both sides. Culture and refinement are not good because they are the 
marks of an idler — of one who does not share in the world's productive 
labor. They have a far different warrant from that. Much less are the 
bread and butter studies bad because they are for the great majority, 
the toilers, those whose talents and opportunities do not suffice to win 
them an easy or bountiful living. It is just because the bread-and-butter 
studies make the struggle for bare existence less intense and exacting 
and dull that their value is real and great. It is, moreover, precisely by 
their aid that those who would otherwise be unskilled slaves to daily 
necessity are given some chance for culture and refinement. 

"Another vmwise contrast is that between certain forms of education 
commonly called utilitarian, such as instruction in agriculture, in 
trades and industries, or in the technical and scientific professions, on 
the one hand, and certain forms of education commonly called non- 
utilitarian or cultural, such as the study of the classical and modern 
languages in high school, or the courses in art, music and manners in 
girls' boarding-schools. To call a thing utilitarian or non-utilitarian 
does not make it so. The study of agriculture may demand and foster 
as intellectual interests as does the study of poetry. That the individual 
earns his living by it may be a minor matter. The scientific professions 
need be no more subdued to dollars and cents than the profession of 
literary man or painter. The languages of the high school are very 
often out-and-out utilitarian, namely, in cases where the method of 
earning a livelihood — for instance, teaching — demands a high-school 
graduation. The art and music and manners of the finishing school 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 43 

are intended precisely to get the girl such a livelihood as her social class 
requires by getting her a husband. "(25) 

F. Practical education compatible with ethical idealism. It 
is possible to combine the acquisition of skills and of knowledge 
and of ethical idealism. This is the fundamental assumption of 
this book. This combination, it appears both from the stand- 
point of sound psychology and also of history, is indispensable 
for democracy. The fear that practical training may interfere 
with the idealistic training of our boys, is thus combated by 
Professor Moore : 

There can be no question that this movement is on. It has two 
forms, one the movement for definite vocational or trade or occupa- 
tional training, the other a much larger movement to make education 
of all sorts definitely and specifically preparatory for the life that the 
student will lead by making that life the basis of his education through- 
out. . . . My own difficulty is not at all due to concern lest the young 
may lack an idealistic training if they are instructed in practical studies 
and given what is called a vocational education. My difficulty is that 
I can not comprehend how any other kind of education ever came to be 
given. How did it happen that anything but that which prepares men 
for their work ever came to be regarded as education? Must not all 
education be vocational f If we follow Aristotle's advice to study 
things in their origin we get great illumination upon this problem. Pa- 
leolithic man, if he taught his child anything, must have taught him 
to do the things which he had found indispensable, to chip stone im- 
plements and to hunt with their aid. Wlaatever education there was in 
that early time was clearly vocational. And vocational it remained at 
Sparta, and at Athens too, for reading and music and gymnastics were 
the means to that democratic citizenship which the ability to read 
Solon's laws, to understand the Homeric morality and to defend the 
state against the Persians made possible. When the Sophists intro- 
duced higher education into Greece they came offering to teach the 
art of life or how to succeed in public and private affairs. One of them, 
Gorgias, believed and taught that but one thing was needful. The 



44 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

person who wanted to be a physician he urged to learn how to make 
speeches rather than to study medicine, and the man who wanted to 
become a general he said should study speech-making rather than 
military tactics. But Socrates corrected this error and spent his life 
in telling the Athenians that they must learn civic and manly virtue 
in just the same way that they learned to make shoes or pilot ships. 
Plato in a famous passage tells us that his notion of education 
was: 

"According to my view, any one who would be good at anything 
must practice that thing from his youth upwards, both in sport and 
earnest in its several branches; for example, he who is to be a good 
builder, should play at building children's houses; he who is to be a 
good husbandman, at tilling the ground and those who have the care 
of their education should provide them when young with mimic tools. 
They should learn beforehand the knowledge wliich they will after- 
wards require for their art. For example, the future carpenter should 
learn to measure or apply the line in play, and the future warrior should 
learn riding, or some other exercise, for amusement, and the teacher 
should endeavor to direct the children's inclinations and pleasures by 
the help of amusements to their final aim in life. The most important 
part of education is right training in the nursery. The soul of the 
child in his play should be guided to the love of that sort of 
excellence in which when he grows up to manhood he will have to 
be perfected. ..." 

No better statement of what education is has ever been made than 
this. It is learning beforehand the knowledge which one will require 
for his art. The teachers should direct the children's inclinations and 
interests to their final aim in life, and of all these aims that of being a 
good citizen and a good man is the greatest. That, too, according to 
Plato, is an art in which one is to gain skill in distinguishing good from 
evil, true from false, noble from ignoble by what he does, just as the 
carpenter learns his trade or the farmer his. Cleanthes tells us that 
Socrates " cursed as impious him who first separated the just from the 
useful." That knowledge is virtue was the one doctrine that he taught. 
To him all knowledge was practical and as I read him all knowledge 
was practical to Plato also. It was Aristotle who introduced confusion, 
first, by distinguishing a liberal education from an education fit for 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 45 

slaves, a distinction which the world mistakenly tries to maintain 
after slavery has gone out of existence, and, secondly, by separating 
theoretical knowledge from practical knowledge — theoretical knowl- 
edge, as he put it, being knowing just for the sake of knowing, knowing 
wholly unmixed with volition, and practical knowledge knowing for 
the sake of doing. Is there any such thing as knowing unmixed with 
volition? . . , 

It is what we do that teaches us. It is easy to get on with one's 
fellows in the school, but in the shop team work and the ignominy of 
shirking are realities. Our little undertakings, if they be real, teach us 
the importance of the virtues. Our great undertakings in which we 
stand together facing defeat and death teach us perhaps for the first 
tune in our lives that all that we can do is of but slight avail, that 
unless right is on our side and God fight for us our struggle is in vain. 
It is purpose, laying hold of life in race-old human ways rather than 
indifferent and aimless seeings and hearings, that we must depend 
upon to make men really conscious of the facts and significance of re- 
ligion and morals. For a purposeful wrestling with conditions has a 
sobering poignancy about it as superior to a mere verbal taking account 
of them as first-hand evidence is superior to hearsay evidence. It is 
in sweeping rooms, in herding sheep, in plowing fields, in driving en- 
gines, in tending machines, in fighting battles, that one must learn to be 
a child of God, or his religion will be as little a workaday affair as his 
Sunday clothes are. (16) 

Educational Ideals and Distinctions 

Balancing aims. Some of the confusion and bitterness in- 
herent in the efforts to define and administer various aspects of 
education, might be lessened by a fair appraisal of the various 
historic aims or ideals of education, each in its just social rela- 
tion. Various two-fold distinctions have been erected, as be- 
tween secondary and primary, immediate and remote, subordi- 
nate and dominant, proximate and ultimate aims and ideals. 
There are in education intense devotees respectively of culture, 
knowledge, skill, development, utility, perfection, service, discipline, 
and happiness. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Quintilian, Simeon 



46 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Stylites, Comenius, Vittorino, Loyola, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, 
Herbart, Locke, — each educational pioneer has admirers and 
imitators. 

In balancing ideals and aims in education there is, first, to 
be made a study of the conmiunity and of existing schools. 
Secondly, there arises continuously the question, what subordi- 
nate, or proximate aims are justly demanded by the present hour, 
week or semester, as claims upon the individual, the teacher, 
the class, the school, or the community? Thirdly, the dominant, 
or ultimate, the all-inclusive motive or ideal is superior to any 
immediate objective of special training, or of occupation in- 
dicated by social and individual needs. The definition and es- 
tablishment of such a dominant motive or ideal is a problem 
of practical ethics, in behalf of both the individual and also the 
state. There is some agreement that its ingredients will include : 
(1) Brotherhood — desire, ability, and effort, to add something to 
the sum total of human welfare. (2) Morality — conformity to 
common social habits of thought and action that are approved 
by the sifted experience of the race, by enlightened conscience, 
and that make for the just use of knowledge, skill, and resources. 
(3) Individual independence — ability to earn a living, freedom 
from parasitism in thinking and doing. (4) Health — physical 
and mental well-being, — an indispensable factor for individuals 
and posterity. 

Divisions of vocational education. The visible forms ex- 
hibited by the movement for vocational education are numerous 
and a complicated terminology has come into being within our 
own country. A full understanding of the origin of certain of 
our vocational educational institutions, and of the present 
nomenclature, would carry us to a study of European school 
systems and to the history of education in general. 

A practical system of nomenclature for vocational schools 
can have as its general basis the accepted classification of all 
occupations. The United States Census groups all of the occu- 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 47 

pations of 38,167,336 gainful workers under these nine occupa- 
tional divisions: (17) 

1. Agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. 

2. Extraction of minerals. 

3. Manufacturing and mechanical. 

4. Transportation. 

5. Trade. 

6. Public service. 

7. Professional service. 

8. Domestic and personal service. 

9. Clerical. 

We find corresponding to these divisions certain phases of 
vocational education: such as, agricultural education, industrial 
education, commercial education, homemaking education, and 
professional education. Other major divisions of education, 
corresponding to vocational education, are cultural education, 
physical education, etc., each being a type of education differ- 
entiated by a special emphasis. 

Practical arts courses distinct. Similar to the distinctions 
drawn between general and vocational education, there is a 
difference between practical arts education and vocational edu- 
cation. It was the opinion of a Committee of the National 
Education Association that vocational education is to be dis- 
tinguished from various forms of so-called practical education, 
which may resemble, in their processes, vocational education, but 
which do not result in definite vocational results. For example : 

Various forms of nonvocational education here comprised under the 
term "practical arts," include manual training, sloyd, manual arts, 
arts and crafts when pursued as part of general education, household 
arts, simple gardening and agricultural education, many phases of 
commercial education, etc. 

The various forms of practical arts education as now given in schools 
are not properly vocational, although sometimes mistaken for vo- 



48 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

cational education, because they do not result, except by chance, in 
recognized forms of vocational efficiency, nor are they assumed to be 
given to persons who have defined vocational aims. 

Various forms of practical arts education have a valuable place in 
general or liberal education, as a means of enlarging general intelli- 
gence, developing sound appreciation of economic products, and in 
laying the foundations for vocational choice. 

Practical arts education is sometimes termed * pre- vocational edu- 
cation, ' because of the belief that a suitable program of practical arts 
training will make important contributions toward the individual's 
ability to choose a vocation wisely. Its value to this end depends 
largely upon the degree to which the individual has already developed 
vocational interest and a desire to choose a suitable vocation. (26a) 

Standardizing Terms 

This Committee on Vocational Education of the National 
Education Association agreed upon certain definitions and types 
in the attempt to standardize terms. The Committee com- 
plained that "No two speakers on a given subject (in educa- 
tion) will be found to use terms derived from the popular lan- 
guage in exactly the same sense. Great confusion and waste 
of effort thus result." An abstract of sixteen definitions and 
analyses of important terms offered tentatively by the Com- 
mittee follows: 

DEFINITION AND TYPES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

(Abstracted from Report of Committee on Vocational Education, N. E. 
A., U. S. Education Bulletin 21, pp. 33, 36, and 42-49.) 

1. (Definition.) Vocational education is any form of education, 
whether given in a school or elsewhere, the purpose of which is to fit 
an individual to pursue effectively a recognized profitable employ- 
ment, whether pursued for wages or otherwise. 

2. Professional education includes those forms of vocational educa- 
tion the direct purpose of each of which is to prepare individuals for 
the successful pursuit of a recognized profession. 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 49 

3. Vocational commercial education includes those forms of voca- 
tional education the direct purpose of each of which is to fit for some 
recognized commercial calling. 

4. Commercial education, or preferably "commercial arts education" 
includes those studies derived from, or based upon, the commercial 
pursuits which are designed to give liberal or general education and to 
contribute to vocational guidance and vocational ideals in the field 
of the commercial occupations. 

5. Vocational agricultural education includes those forms of voca- 
tional education the direct purpose of each of which is to prepare stu- 
dents for some one of the agricultural occupations. 

6. Agricultural arts education includes those forms of training and 
study based upon agricultural pursuits and designed to enhance gen- 
eral intelligence, to promote appreciation of agriculture as a form of 
economic activity, to show wherein various sciences have practical 
application to human affairs, and to give vocational guidance and to 
inspire vocational ideals as these relate to the field of agriculture. 
Agricultural arts education, therefore, constitutes an important divi- 
sion of liberal education, both in the elementary and the secondary 
field. 

7. Vocational industrial education includes those fonns of vocational 
education the direct purpose of each of which is to fit the individual 
for some industrial pursuit or trade. 

8. Industrial arts education includes those forms of training and 
study based upon industrial pursuits and designed to enhance general 
intelligence and give vocational guidance in the field of industrial 
occupations. 

9. Vocational homemaking education includes those forms of vo- 
cational education the direct object of which is to fit for homemaking 
as practiced by the wife and mother in the home and also for some 
specialized forms as practiced by household employees, housekeepers, 
or other wage-earning assistants to the homemaker. 

10. Household arts education includes all those forms of instruction 
and training based upon the occupations of the home or household and 
which are designed to promote higher standards of appreciation and 
utilization in the field of the activities associated with homemaking, 
to promote right conceptions of the social importance of the home as a 



50 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

nursery of childhood and a haven for the wage earners of the family, 
and to show wherein the various arts and sciences have practical ap- 
plication in domestic life. Hence, household arts education can be 
made a large factor in the liberal education of womanhood. 

11. Nautical education is the term used to designate those forms of 
vocational education, the controlling purpose of each of which is to 
train youths for such occupations as those of the fisherman, the sailor, 
the ship captain, and the like. These forms of training have not yet 
been clearly differentiated in the educational practice of America. A 
few special nautical schools of a technical character exist, and in the 
United States naval service facilities for training seamen are pro- 
vided. 

12. Day Vocational Schools, in which the pupils attend school the 
greater part of the working day for at least five days each week. In 
these schools are taught both the actual operations and the theory 
underlying these operations. 

13. Evening Vocational Schools, in which, as the name implies, 
the instruction in the school is given in the evening. It may be given 
in the same operation or in some operation connected with the occu- 
pation in which the pupil is employed in the daytime, but in which 
he wishes further instruction to increase his efficiency. On the other 
hand, it may be in some occupation which the student wishes to enter, 
which differs materially from his regular daily work. 

14. Continuation Schools, which, as generally carried on in this 
country, are schools in which the pupil receives some form of day 
school instruction at the same time that he is employed in the shop. 
Like the evening schools, the work in these schools may be preparatory 
or extension. In addition, it is possible in these schools to offer work 
for general improvement or culture. 

15. Prevocational education includes any form of education de- 
signed to enable a youth to discover for which one of several possible 
vocations he is best fitted by natural ability and disposition, the pro- 
gram of instruction and practice for this purpose being based mainly 
upon actual participation on the part of the learner in a variety of 
tjrpical practical experiences derived from the occupations involved. 

16. Vocational guidance includes all systematic efforts, under 
private or public control, and excluding the traditional activities of 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 51 

the home, the conscious and chief purpose of which is to secure the 
most economical and effective adjustment of young people to the 
economic employments which they can most advantageously 
follow. (26a) 

Characteristics of German Schools 

Dangers in imitation. The history of education reveals many- 
lessons concerning mistakes of educational pioneers, and also 
records established principles of eternal worth. It has always 
been an error, however, to transplant to modern soil the un- 
modified theory and practise of other generations and of other 
lands. Even the methods of the Master-Teachers, Jesus, 
Socrates, Pestalozzi, Vittorino, must be adapted and adjusted 
for modern use. Similarly, the schools excellent in one country 
and nation, need modification and adjustment when trans- 
planted to another people's land. There have been and are 
dangers in imitating any foreign school system. Especially 
before the war the industrial schools of Germany were lauded. 
We thought then more highly than we do now of the product of 
these schools, — viz., a certain industrial and militaiy efficiency. 

Volksschule, Gymnasium, Realschule. During and since 
the World War scrutiny of educators has been directed par- 
ticularly toward the results of the German elementary and 
secondary schools. It is now universally conceded that these 
schools, although as a whole efficient in the sense of realizing 
the inmiediate aims sought, have been instrumental in the un- 
doing of the German people and nation. These pages are not 
the place for a review of this whole question, but we may profit- 
ably single out certain relevant facts. The German schools 
at the beginning of the War were far more varied than the 
casual student of German affairs realizes. The Prussian system 
was similar to, but by no means identical with, the school systems 
of the twenty-five other States of the German Empire. As a 
whole the schools of the Empire were not centralized as in France. 



52 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Nevertheless, in no other country than Germany have the 
schools been so deeply under the influence of certain philosophic 
thinkers and in general accord with the plans and ideals of the 
governing classes. There were many special types of educa- 
tional institutions throughout Germany, but the important 
kinds were the elementaiy school (Volksschule), the secondary 
schools (Gymnasium and Realschule), and the universities. 

Privileged groups. The overwhelming majority of the 
German people never entered the secondary school, — i. e., the 
Progymnasium, the Realgymnasium, the Gymnasium (three 
types of schools in which mathematics, and Latin, or Greek, 
or both were required subjects). Graduation from one of these, 
especially from the Gymnasium, brought definite social, busi- 
ness, and political privileges which fostered caste and auto- 
cratic rule. The Realschule, and the Oberrealschule substi- 
tuted modern languages for the ancient, were a more modern 
development than the Gymnasium — but also predominantly 
were schools for the privileged classes. There was no definite, 
convenient means of access to the secondary schools (Gjon- 
nasien and Realschulen) from the elementary schools of the 
people, i. e., the Volksschulen. 

Predestination. A transference of a pupil from the public 
elementary to the secondary and higher school system of Ger- 
many was possible as a rule only at one point, namely after the 
third or fourth school year when the boy was about ten or eleven 
years of age. No German State had an ''educational ladder" 
leading from kindergarten to university such as exists in the 
United States. 

Fortbildungschule. From the Volksschulen the young pupil 
as a rule went to work at an early age in an occupation selected 
for him by his parents. In productive industry at fourteen 
years of age, rather than in a secondary school, the children 
of the masses were compelled to attend "continuation schools" 
(Fortbildungschulen) in the evening and on Sundays, in order to 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 53 

increase their skill and knowledge in the processes of their daily 
occupation. Few have denied the resulting technical skill of 
the German workman. 

Vorschule and Einheitschule. The Vorschule was an elemen- 
tary, special fee-paying school which prepares pupils from six 
to nine years of age for entrance into a secondary school (Gym- 
nasium). Progressive educators in Germany for thirty years 
have advocated the Einheitschule, a free school to be extended 
for all children between six and twelve years of age, and to be 
followed by educational opportunities adapted to the various 
abilities of pupils. 

Threefold errors. The most fatal errors in the German 
schools appear to have been threefold: First, there was the 
permanent divorcement of the young pupil when leaving the 
Volksschule from equal access to general and liberal education 
open to the privileged few in the Gymnasien and Realschulen. 
Secondly, there was the practical isolation of the pupils of these 
secondary schools into a privileged caste remote in feeling and 
activity from their fellows in Volksschule and in industry. Thus 
Prussian autocracy inculcated its ideals, produced skill coupled 
with a certain automatism or docility in the masses of the 
people. Thirdly, there was utterly inadequate provision for 
the education of women. When one considers that shortly 
before the World War only about five per cent of the enrollment 
in the German universities were women, this fact is strongly 
in evidence. 

Fallacies felt. It is significant that about the year 1911 Paul 
Ziertmann, a German Oherlehrer in Steglitz Oberrealschule, 
Berlin wrote as follows after reviewing the German system : 

It is a pretty generally accepted opinion that the German higher 
school system, as at present organized, cannot last any length of time; 
but how it is to be reformed is a problem. But those concerned in it 
are convinced that reform will not be brought about by a revolution, 
but by gradual, even slow, but unceasing development. (8) 



54 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

A review by I. L. Kandel of the Carnegie Foundation of 
various announcements emanating from Germany during the 
years 1916-1918, presents an elaborate program of educational 
reform issued by the Kultus-Minister Hanisch during 1918(26b). 
The educational world awaits with interest the subsequent 
developments of this or other attempts to modify German edu- 
cation radically. The actual changes doubtless will remain 
obscure to us until sources of direct information are open to the 
world. 

No autocracy in America. Any system that develops privi- 
lege, caste, autocracy, can not be long tolerated in America. 
All children of ability from our elementary schools must have 
ready access and even strong incentives to go through high 
school and to college. Universal education embodies training 
for efficiency coupled with the ideals of democracy. 

Curricula not static. Equality of opportunity does not imply 
uniformity in curricula or in schools for all pupils. Two facts 
or principles demand incessant readjustment of all plans of 
education and all curricula. The curriculum makers of to-day 
who seek a perfected product that will remain static and stand- 
ardized are following a jack-o-lantern. The "perfect" curric- 
ulum of to-day before many years will be like the Trivium and 
Quadrivium of yesterday. 

The two facts are: (1) human beings exhibit individual dif- 
ferences in capacity, abilities, and interests; (2) individuals in 
a large population inevitably fall into groupings — natural, 
social, economic. Whether we are adjusting vocational cur- 
ricula to the needs of individuals, or to the needs of groups, or 
are making propaganda for better laws concerning public edu- 
cation, these two facts can not be ignored. In the next chapter 
we shall pause to elaborate the two principles as being funda- 
mental in educational readjustment. 

Summary. In review of some of the important principles 
stated in this chapter we may emphasize these nine points: 



THE MEANINGS OP VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 55 

1. Vocational education is a phase of education wherein 
emphasis is laid upon preparation for and participation in oc- 
cupations of social value. Its means are found both within and 
outside of the schoolhouse. 

2. Demands for the practical in education arise from (a) 
changed economic conditions, (b) defects in existing schools, 
(c) sensational journalism. 

3. There is a difference between temporarily isolating stu- 
dents in vocational courses for purposes of practical adminis- 
tration within a school system, and permanently isolating the 
individual throughout life from contact with vocational, or 
general, or liberal courses. Special provisions are needed for 
vocational education (apart from intensive work in general, 
practical arts, or liberal education), as to teachers, methods, 
courses, equipment. But efforts utterly to predestine pupils 
to exclusive pursuit of vocational, or general, or liberal educa- 
tion, fail. The reasons are: (a) Each person perforce follows 
many callings; (b) occupations are too numerous and ephem- 
eral to make practicable, or necessary, exactly corresponding 
courses in specialized, vocational education in every instance; 
(c) phases of general and liberal education are valuable in all 
occupations, especially those phases having to do with health 
and idealism. ' Unfortunately both vocational and also liberal 
education have become associated with narrow or ambiguous 
meanings. 

4. Contemporary interpretations of the meaning, value, and 
relations of vocational education are varied. Some of these 
doubtless are based upon misunderstandings about words, or 
refer merely to certain concrete instances. Fad, the narrowly 
practical, education for production, for specialized efficiency, 
for utility, useful education compatible with idealism — are 
expressions symbolizing various interpretations, of which the 
last is sound. ^ 

5. A clue to the puzzle of conflict of educational ideals, is 



'56 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

found in the principle of balancing aims to accord with individ- 
ual and social needs — the inunediate and proximate aim ac- 
ceptable, but always to be subordinated to a regulative, al- 
truistic, and ultimate principle or ideal. 

6. Strictly vocational courses are distinct from "practical arts 
courses," the immediate aims of which may be general or vague. 

7. Classifications of definitions and principles are afforded 
in the statements of the Committee Report of the National 
Education Association. 

8. The pre-war influence of German educators such as Ker- 
schensteiner, and the reputed peculiar efficiency of industrial 
education in Germany, doubtless influenced many American 
thinkers to advocate before the World War the German system 
for America. It is now believed that the fallacious philosophy 
underlying the German elementary, secondary, and university 
education was a powerful element in producing the World 
War. It is certain that no ready-made educational system can 
with safety be transplanted. Progressive leaders in Germany 
are advocating radical changes in education, and the world 
during future years will await the results. 

9. All valid educational programs and curricula are fluid, 
not static. There is incessant adjustment of the schools to the 
needs of the individual and of society. 

Problems 

1. Trace the historical development of systems of vocational 

education for one or more of the following callings: min- 
ister, lawyer, doctor, engineer, teacher. 

2. Also, of these: carpenter, machinist, cooper, operative en- 

gineer, mason, seamstress, tailor, stenographer, printer. 

3. OutUne woman's share in the vocational activity of some 

primitive people, e. g. : Africans, Australasians, Eskimos, 
Indians. 

4. Show to what extent the courses (in addition to reading. 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 57 

writing, and arithmetic) in the elementary schools with 
which you are familiar function in certain definite callings. 

5. Is there demand and reward in your community for many 

persons not exceptionally proficient in any one calling, 
but of "all-round ability" with tools, clerical work, etc. 
Nmnbers employed, constancy of employment, wages? 

6. How do (a) arithmetic, (b) grammar, (c) algebra, (d) ge- 

ometry, (e) Latin, (f) rhetoric, (g) Hterature, (h) chemistry, 
actually function in the lives of high school (1) boys and 
(2) girls, of your community? 

7. After investigation appraise the value of (a) household arts 

and of (b) manual training as given in a local school or 
system. 

8. Find, study, and describe in writing, any existing provisions 

illustrative of these types of vocational education in your 
community: practical arts; pre vocational; trade; continua- 
tion; agricultural; homemaking; commercial. 

9. Restate and evaluate the six interpretations of, or attitudes 

toward, vocational education of secondary grade, stated 
in this chapter. 

10. How can training in democratic and ethical ideals and sen- 

timents best be coupled with specialized trade training? 

11. How would you secure for youths, boys and girls, compelled 

to enter industry, skill and knowledge of advantage in a 
chosen occupation, and also the elements of general and 
of liberal education? What provisions would you make 
for education after entering industry? 

12. Study the program, courses of study, and curricula of a 

modern American high school with reference to general 
or to definite liberal, culturistic, and utilitarian aims 
within the various divisions. 

13. Study critically the chart of Farrington (Reference 7) and 

of Simmons (Reference 23) illustrating the various phases 
of the German school system. / 



58 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

14. Tabulate the special privileges granted only to graduates 

of certain Prussian schools in 1904, See Russell (Refer- 
ence 21), pages 469-470. 

15. Indicate the practical difficulties of enforcing compulsory 

education in the United States. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Annual Report of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. Wash- 

ington, D. C, 1917. 

2. Bloomfield, M. The School and the Start in Life. School and Em- 

ployment in England, Scotland, Germany. U. S. Education Bulle- 
tin 4, 1914. 

3. Cooley, Edwin G. Vocational Education in Europe. Chicago, 1915, 

2 V. 

4. Davenport, E. What is Involved in Vocational Education. University 

of Ilhnois Bulletin 19, 1915. 23 p. 

5. Dewey, John. Democracy and Education. N. Y., 1916. 

6. Farrington, F. E. The Public Primary School System of France. 

N. Y., 1906, 303 p. 

7. Farrington, F. E. Commercial Education in Germany. N. Y., 1914, 

258 p. 

8. Germany, General Characteristics of Education in. Wilhelm Miinch, 

Paul Ziertmann, F. M. Schiele. Monroe's Cyclopedia of Educa- 
tion, vol. Ill, pp. 63-102. 

9. Graves, Frank P. A History of Education in Modern Times. N. Y., 

1914, 410 p. 

10. Hanus, Paul. Beginnings in Industrial Education. N. Y., 1908, 199 p. 

11. Hughes, R. E. The Making of Citizens. A Study in Comparative 

Education. N. Y., 1902, 405 p. 

12. Leake, Albert H. Industrial Education, Its Problems, Methods and 

Dangers. N. Y., 1913. 

13. McDonald, R. A. F. Adjustment of School Organization to Various 

Population Groups. N. Y., 1915, 145 p. 

14. Monroe, Paul. Text-Book in the History of Education. N. Y., 1906. 

15. Monroe, Paul. Principles of Secondary Education. N. Y., 1914. 

16. Moore, E. C. The Stress which is now being put upon the Practical 

Interfering with the Idealistic Training of Our Boys and Girls. 
School and Society, March 31, 1917. 

17. Occupations. U. S. Census, vol. IV. Washington, D. C, 1910. 



THE MEANINGS OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 59 

18. Proceedings of National Education Association, pp. 150-170, 1914. 

19. Roman, Frederick W. The Industrial and Commercial Schools of 

the United States and Germany. N. Y., 1915, 382 p. 

20. Rouvier, Gaston. L'enseignement public en France au debut XX 

siecle. Paris, 1901, 129 p. 

21. Russell, James E. German Higher Schools. N. Y. 1905, 489 p. 

22. Snedden, David. Educational Readjustment. N. Y., 1913. 

23. Simmons, L. V. T. Problems of Vocational Education as Carried 

Out in the German School System. School and Society, June 2, 
1917. 

24. Statement of Definitions and Policies by National Society for Promo- 

tion of Industrial Education. In Bulletin of the Society, 25, 1917. 

25. Thorndike, E. L. Education. N. Y., 1912. 

26. (a) United State Bureau of Education. Bulletin 21, 1916. Report of 

Committee of N. E. A. on Vocational Secondary Education. 
(6) Ibid. Bulletin 21, 1919. I. L. Kandel: Education in Germany. 



CHAPTER III 
ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 

Individuals and Society: The question of adjustment; the place of re- 
search; individual differences; types of individuals. 

Society not Homogeneous: Miscellaneous population and the conse- 
quences; groupings of society; general occupational groups, distribution 
by years, industries, and sex; occupational groups in states; age-groupings 
of workers. 

Youth Classified Within and Without the Schools: Three school prob- 
lems; persistence and elimination; causes of elimination; results; malad- 
justments of groups within schools; vocational education not a cure; dis- 
tribution of school enrollment; visible efforts at adjustment. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

Individuals and Society 

The question of adjustment. The idea of universal educa- 
tion may be associated in careless thinking with the fallacious 
notion of uniformity in schools, curricula, and methods as a 
necessary consequent. Universal education as a policy of the 
best civilization demands suitable and abundant opportunity 
for education for all kinds of persons regardless of age, sex, 
race, or economic status, and the various capacities and interests 
of individuals as well as the common welfare of all, necessitate 
wide variety in the programs and devices of formal education 
in order that universal opportunity may be realized. Advo- 
cates of vocational education in reacting from the "lock step" 
of traditional school methods, run the danger of foisting an- 
other kind of rigid uniformity upon our schools, where voca- 
tional courses are not constantly readjusted to the needs both 
of individuals and of society. 

60 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 61 

Much thought and many words have been used by theorists 
in philosophy and in education to determine whether the schools 
should be adjusted to the needs of the individual or of society. 
The superintendent engaged in the practical introduction of 
vocational education in any community encounters this ques- 
tion in a practical aspect, for he will have pressed upon him the 
demands for school-adjustments both in behalf of individuals 
and in behalf of groups. 

It is foreign to the purpose of this book to enter discussion of 
the theoretical aspects of this problem, which may become con- 
fusing when we recall that society is a mass of individuals, and 
contrast the various meanings of the terms need, desire, values, 
as affecting individual and the social group. "Society" is de- 
fined as "Those persons collectively who are united by the 
common bond of neighborhood and intercourse, and who recog- 
nize one another as associates, friends, and acquaintances." 
That the word thus loosely used, may denote innumerable 
groupings of undesirable persons including thieves, anarchist 
rings, fanatical sects, or any vicious combination, is evident. 
In the effort to adjust education to the needs of "society," 
therefore, it is quite essential to maintain steadily a definite 
conception of society compatible with the ideals of American 
democracy, even though such a working definition may seem to 
be arbitrary in excluding from society certain elements which 
would be included in a more generic use of the term as denoting 
mere collectivism or mass. We may, therefore, agree to think 
of American society in this wise, when we speak of adjusting 
the school to its demands or needs. It is that major portion of 
our whole people who to date have nourished common interests, 
aims, and ideals regarding intelligence, morality, health, in- 
dustrial activity, loyalty, and liberty — traits demonstrably 
characteristic of true Americans. 

The place of research. To ascertain the needs of local and 
of general American society in order better to adjust schools 



62 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

and industry is a valid use of the research method to which we 
shall refer in Chapter XII. This is essentially the method 
of the more scientific type of vocational-educational survey. 
It is equally important to learn the needs of the individual in 
order that we may provide just that articulation of his capacity 
and interests with the programs of the school helpful to him in 
becoming the best possible unit in society. It will be the aim of 
the truly efficient individual to develop and use his own powers 
without an injury or loss to self, that would be incompatible 
with his greatest contribution to hmnan welfare. An altruism 
therefore that zealously guards the individual seems to be the 
cue for action in the frequent clash of the interests of the in- 
dividual and of society, when radical readjustments of educa- 
tional machinery are attempted. Educational research that 
contemplates something more than mere clerical work, the 
playing with school statistics, etc., will help to lay before the 
school administrator the facts both about the nature of the in- 
dividual and also about the needs of various groupings of society. 

For information about the individual as a psycho-physical 
organism physiology, anthropology, and psychology give us 
method and facts. The psychology of childhood and ado- 
lescence built upon the studies of such men as Hall, Baldwin, 
Thorndike, and Judd, is a recognized factor in the preparation 
of professionally trained educators. On the other hand, soci- 
ology and the work of the school surveyors are focusing scientific 
method in the study of the occupational and other groupings 
of society as a whole. 

Individual differences. Equally fallacious with the notion 
of equality or uniformity of curricula, is the idea that human 
beings of a given group are near-duplicates. One notes easily 
the fact of individual variation in a large crowd, because of the 
visible differences in age, sex, physique, conduct. In a seem- 
ingly homogeneous group the individual differences with regard 
to abilities are not so easily discerned, but the differences are 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 63 

real and often extreme as the experiments of Thorndike and 
others clearly show. The general causes of individual differ- 
ences are heredity, growth, disease, environmental factors, 
practice. 

The practical importance of what we think about individual 
differences in youth is greater than one may realize. For ex- 
ample: Schemes for instruction whether to classes or to in- 
dividuals, promotion systems, prescription of manual training 
upon the assumption "that skill of movement is intimately 
connected with efficiency in thinking," grading and tests, legis- 
lation about the age-of-consent, and about child and woman 
labor — all these involve assumptions about the nature and 
amount of individual differences. Effective description of the 
individual differences among persons ideally should be accurate 
or quantitative — a work for the scientific student of human 
nature. Thorndike thinks that while our curricula are framed 
with some speculation concerning mental development as a 
guide, the "American public school system rests on a total 
disregard of hereditary mental differences between the classes 
and the masses." 

Types of individuals. The student of the vocational edu- 
cation movement can not safely lose sight of the facts of in- 
dividual differences when the matter of experimenting with 
agricultural, industrial, commercial, or homemaking curricula 
is concerned. It suffices at this point of our study merely to in- 
dicate qualitatively various types of human beings, enumerated 
in an illustrative exhibit based upon different criteria of classi- 
fication. The following table was prepared by McDonald(lO) 
following Professor Giddings. As numerous and very com- 
plex as human types appear to be from this table, the classi- 
fications are utterly inadequate, for the terms used are of the 
most general character. For example, note the crude differen- 
tiation of persons according to "mentality." Nevertheless, a 
brief study of this table (p. 64) impresses one with the gravity 



64 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



TABLE I 

Classification of Human Types (10) 



o. Chromatic 
race 



A. As TO GEN- 
ESIS 



b. Sex. 



c. Nativity.. 



B. As TO PER- 
SONALITY. . . 



C. As TO EN- 
VIRONMENT 



a. Age. 



I. White. 

II. Yellow. 
III. Red. 
IV. Brown. 

V. Black. 

I I. Male 
\ II. Female. 

I. Native-born 

II. Foreign-born. 

I. Minority. .. . 

II. Maturity. 
III. Senescence. 

I. Physically 
normal 



b. Vitality. 



Vocational 
background 



Economic 
background 



f 1. Native parentage. 
\ 2. Foreign parentage. 

f 1. Infancy. 
\ 2. Childhood. 
1.3. Youth. 



1. High type. 

2. Medium type. 

3. Low type. 

fl. Blind. 
I 2. Deaf. 

3. Crippled. 

4. Anemic. 

5. Tuberculous. 

1. Retarded. 

2. Epileptic. 

3. Speech defective. 

1. High type, 
icutaiy I 2. Medium type, 

'^o™*! is. Low type. 



II. Physically 
defective. 



Border line 
types . . . 



L Mentally 



c. Mentality. 



d. Morality and 
sociality. . 



Home condi- 
tions 



6. Literacy i 



II. Mentally. . . . 
defective. . . 

I. The normal 
(and social) 

II. The immoral 
(and unso- 
cial) 



1. Moron. 

1. Feeble-minded i 2. Imbecile. 

[ 3. Idiot. 

2. Insane. 

1. High type. 

2. Ordinary type. 

L Untrustworthy. 

2. Incorrigible. 

3. Delinquent. 

4. Confirmed criminal. 



1. High tj-pe. 

I. Normal {'2. Medium type. 

3. Low type. 



II. Subnormal. . 



Literate. 
Illiterate. 



1. Neglected. 

2. Deserted or homeless. 

3. Ill-treated. 

4. Orphan or half orphan. 



f I. Professional. 

! II. Artisan. 

III. Unskilled. 

[ IV. Idle. 

r I. Wealthy. 
\ IT. Middle class. 
I III. Poor 



{k 



Insolvent. 
Dependent, 



Political background. 
/. Religious background. 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 65 

of the problem of adjustment of school organization to needs 
both of individuals and also of population groups within the 
heterogeneous populations found in some portions of our coun- 
try. If the principles we have stated above are true, the fact 
of these differences can not be ignored by the pioneers in vo- 
cational education. 

Society not Homogeneous 

Miscellaneous population and the consequences. Before the 
World War our nation was a heterogeneous population. Sons of 
Puritans and of Cavaliers, peoples of English, Scotch, Dutch, 
Irish, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, PoHsh, German, Scandi- 
navian, Swiss, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, Negro, and other races 
or extraction make here their homes. The population of the 
United States is mobile, especially in certain states and cities. 
Ayres' studies in 78 American city school systems brought out 
these approximations: As a rule only 16 per cent of the fathers 
of thirteen-year-old children were natives of the city where 
found; 24 per cent were born in the same state but not in the 
same city where living; 20 per cent were born in other states; 
and 40 per cent were foreign born. (2a) Notwithstanding mani- 
fold differences, the invisible, indissoluble bonds of certain con- 
victions held in common, of sympathy and understanding in 
striving for the great ends of democracy, — these real bonds of 
democracy so far hold like steel. Hereafter the currents of 
immigration may tend to make our population even more mis- 
cellaneous and our problems of adjustment in education cor- 
respondingly more difficult. Plato enunciated principles that 
indicate possible results of population-characteristics, prin- 
ciples of interest to educators who would maintain a sane 
balance in advocating the new in education while they discard 
the old: 

. . When a colony is of one race, and has the same language 
and the same laws, it possesses a kind of friendship as being a partaker 



66 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

in the same holy rites, and everything else of a similar kind, nor does 
it easily endure other laws, and a polity foreign to what it had at home. 
. . . But on the other hand, a colony, composed of all kinds of people 
flowing together to the same point, will perhaps be more willingly 
obedient to certain new laws; but to ccttispire together, and, like a pair 
of horses, to froth together, as the saying is, individually to the same 
point, is the work of a long time and very difficult. (Plato, The 
Laios, IV, 4.) 

Giddings, the sociologist, thinks that these words of Plato 
express five cardinal generalizations about the nature and be- 
haviour of human society: First, miscellaneous groupings of 
people, as well as groupings of kindred, are spontaneous, natural. 
Secondly, the ethnically homogeneous groups have a psycholog- 
ical and physical unity, a basis of understanding not present in 
the heterogeneous group. Thirdly, there is nevertheless, a 
collective behaviour in the miscellaneous group. Fourth, in 
the heterogeneous group, the practical working level of col- 
lective action is difficult. Fifth, violent breaking away from an 
old order of things to experiment with the new, to abandon 
old traditions, is more likely to occur in the heterogeneous 
than in the homogeneous group. (7) 

Groupings of society. The concept "needs" of society 
seems even more complex when we recall that human beings 
fall naturally into groups. O'Shea thus explains and illustrates 
this natural tendency : 

In any biological group, the markedly exceptional individual in 
respect to any particular trait generally arouses the antagonism of 
some or all of the remaining members, unless he be very clearly a 
leader and is accepted as such. Only birds of a feather can flock to- 
gether. The odd sheep in the flock is constantly plagued by the rest 
of the group, and they would eliminate him if they could. The treat- 
ment of the ugly duckling is typical in principle of that accorded the 
peculiar individual in the life of the forest, or elsewhere. In previous 
chapters we have noted instances showing that this same phenomenon 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 67 

may be seen in human society. Study the Ufe of the playground, and 
it will be seen that a boy in any way markedly peculiar is apt to become 
an object of more or less direct and persistent bullying by the crowd. 
The group will not easily tolerate any considerable departure from gen- 
eral group characteristics, either in respect to physical traits, or to 
dress, manners, or any attitudes or actions affecting the interests, 
customs, or practices of the group. (11) 

There are innumerable "social groupings" within our Amer- 
ican society and each group may have a distinctive need, e. g. : 
groups of family, kinship, race; county, city, state, nation; 
cultural groups, as of music, art, science, history, literature; 
religious groups; business and industrial groups, such as partner- 
ships, companies, corporations, associations, unions; occupa- 
tional groups, as of the homemakers, farmers, miners, factory 
workers, carpenters, plumbers, bricklayers, electrical workers, 
engineers, printers, barbers, cooks, tailors, railroad workers, 
nautical men, soldiers, officers, doctors, lawyers, ministers, 
artists, writers, clerks, brokers, salesmen, public officials. When 
legislatures and school officials are confronted by the special 
needs and demands of. these different groupings of society, 
the demands should be evaluated with reference to society in 
the larger sense defined. In the direction of public education, 
there enters the principle of preserving a hierarchy of aims and 
ideals, of the balancing and subordination of aims (ante, p. 45) 
of individual, of group, and of society to an ultimate aim under 
democracy. 

General occupational groups. The field of vocational edu- 
cation may be comprehended more clearly when we view tables 
showing the kinds and numbers of occupations in our country. 
It is a difficult thing to classify all occupations into logically con- 
sistent groups. Tables showing the relative numbers of workers 
in hundreds of different occupations are compiled every ten 
years by the United States Census. No statistical table is quite 
adequate to portray existing conditions, since the incessant 



68 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

changes of industry and of population, modify the figures of 
any such table before the printer's ink is diy upon the page. 
Remarkable changes, owing to the World War, would appear 
in census tables were it possible to revise them to the present 
hour. For example, the enumeration of 77,153 persons as 
"soldiers, sailors and marines" would have been augmented to 
millions in the year 1918. 

Distribution by years, industries, and sex. Table II shows 
the groupings of workers contained into an occupational classi- 
fication by sex, and from 1880 to 1910. Contrasting the num- 
bers in the respective industrial groupings, and by sex, during 
the past 30 years, we obtain interesting information concern- 
ing the general drift of workers in diversified activities during 
that period. 

The table shows that while there were in 1910 six times as 
many men as women in agriculture the country over, neverthe- 
less the proportion of all male workers thus engaged had de- 
creased twelve per cent since 1880. More than five times as 
many men as women were in manufacturing and mechanical 
industries in 1910. There was relatively a somewhat smaller 
number of women in manufacture in 1910 as compared with 
1880, probably owing to better laws regarding child and woman 
labor. The industrial changes due to the War have, of course, 
brought thousands of women into such work. There were 
about nine per cent more of all male workers in mechanical and 
manufacturing industries in 1910, contrasted with the record of 
1880. With regard to domestic and personal service markedly 
smaller percentages of all female workers were found in 1910 
(cf. 32.5 per cent with 44. 6 per cent). The increase of women 
in "trade and transportation" was relatively greater than of 
men, due to the tendency of women to enter phases of com- 
mercial life. The awkward five-fold classification of Table II 
conformed to that of early censuses. Table III of the Thirteenth 
Census conforms to a ninefold rather than to the older four- 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 69 



a h 






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O -jH 


o 


O 


t-. +^ 


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o 








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CO OS IM CO 


Tf 


00 IN in <N 


c^ 


iCt^COiO 

cOTffcnTtt 
coai-*Ti< 


C-1 

en 
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05 lOt^ 00 
■-HIM coo 
i-H TfllN 00 


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locvicoco CO 



T)(t^l-ICO l-H 

oji>.ooco CO 



P-i'-B 



lMOr-(C0 



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05t~i-llO 



oococv) csi CO 

-* CO T-I(>J CO 



CO C» -^CO lO 



TtiooiOiM c>q 



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iOtHOSCD 



CO uOOOt^ " CTi 



OOIOOOCO 00 



CO lottos 
cncOTf<t> 



Cfti-HOOl^ rt 



Tt<rHTf(lO 

00 00O5OJ 



C0O5 -^ rt< CO 



t^cooio i-H 

OlTjiouO CO 



cnoooos 

C<1 tJHtHOS 



IN C^) CO CO cq 



looococo 00 



00 00 -H CO 
lOCOCO"-! 



oq^r-T-Hco 

o'i-ho'co" 



TJICOIOOS 05 

lMOO(NTt< I-H 
C^ COrt IM 



ooot^eq ic 

lO .-I lO lO 05 



01^(M0 

00 CO CO IN 
00 rn" (N.-H 



s o a 

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3 o g O OS 

P S I) S" 

Cm-O g a 

OS C^ Oj rH 

ti a o T^ -fi -5 



— ii--'^ o3 cj'3 



1 (U 



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sga 



3 o M o C3 
3 S °*« M 



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r, ^ " 

^ ^ e 

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r>s 



ii S =3 
ft m-o g a 

-^s 9-^'C 
5 0.2 a c.S 

o S 2 *i"3 >- 



TABLE III 

Occupational Geoups 



SEX AND GENERAL DIVISION OF OCCUPATIONS 



Both Sexes 

All occupations 

Agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. 

Extraction of minerals 

Manufacturing and mechanical industries... . 

Transportation 

Trade 

PubUc service (not elsewhere classified) 

Professional service 

Domestic and personal service 

Clerical occupations 



Male 

All occupations 

Agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry 

Extraction of minerals 

Manufacturing and mechanical industries. . . 

Transportation 

Trade 

Public service (not elsewhere classified) 

Professional service 

Domestic and personal service 

Clerical occupations 



Female 

All occupations 

Agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry. 

Extraction of minerals 

Manufacturing and mechanical industries. . . 

Transportation 

Trade 

Public service (not elsewhere classified) .... 

Professional service 

Domestic and personal service 

Clerical occupations 



Number, 
1910 



38,167,336 



12,659,203 

964,824 

10,658,881 

2,637,671 

3,614,670 

459,291 

1,663,569 

3,772,174 

1,737,053 



30,091,564 



10,851,702 

963,730 

8,837,901 

2,531,075 

3,146,582 

445,733 

929,684 

1,241,328 

1,143,829 



8,075,772 



1,807,501 

1,094 

1,820,980 

106,596 

468,088 

13,558 

733,885 

2,530,846 

593,224 



Per cent 
distri- 
bution 



100.0 
33.2 
2.5 
27.9 
6.9 
9.5 
1.2 
4.4 
9.9 
4.6 



100.0 

36.1 

3.2 

29.4 

8.4 

10.5 

1.5 

3.1 

4.1 

3.8 



100.0 
22.4 

(0 

22.5 
1.3 
5.8 
0.2 
9.1 

31.3 
7.3 



1 Less than one-tenth of 1 per cent. 
70 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 71 

fold grouping. It displays somewhat more satisfactorily the 
occupational groupings of all gainful workers in the year 1910. 

Occupational groups in states. Generalized percentages, 
such as are seen in Tables II and III, and averages contain an 
illusory element. For example, the figures showing occupa- 
tional distributions in the forty-eight states of the Union vary 
widely from the general tendencies of the country as a whole. 
This fact is shown by Figure I. So far as the distribution of 
occupations is a partial basis for the establishment of different 
kinds of vocational education, a proper correlation should 
always be sought between (a) the needs of industry in a given 
state or local community, (b) the general national need, and 
the general aim of public education. The means for securing 
this correlation is the vocational-educational survey referred 
to in the last chapter of this book. Figure I exhibits some 
marked contrasts between New England, Southern, Western, 
and North Central States. This chart, of course, is being 
modified by contemporary industrial changes, especially in the 
states of the West and the South where development is now 
rapid. 




MISSISSIPPI 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

ARKANSAS 

ALABAMA 

NORTH CAROLINA 

GEORGIA 

HORTH DAKOTA 

tEXAS 

OKLAHOMA 

SOUTH DAKOTA 

NEV< MEXICO 

TENNESSEE 

KENTUCKY 

LOUISIANA 

NEBRASKA 

VIRGINIA 

IDAHO 

KANSAS 

FLORIDA 

IOWA 

WEST VIRGINIA 

MISSOURI 

VERMONT 

MINNESOTA 

WISCONSIN 

WYDMINO 

INDIANA 

MONTANA 

MICHIQAN 

OREGON 

UTAH 

DELAWARE 

MAINE 

ARIZONA 

COLORADO 

WASHINGTON 

OHIO 

MARYLAND 

CALIFORNIA 

ILLINOIS 

NEVADA 

NEW HAMPSHIRE 

PENNSYLVANIA 

CONNECTICUT 

NEW YORK 
NEW JERSEY 

RHODE ISLAND 
MASSACHUSETTS 

OIST OF COLUMBIA 

k^2AAyn^o.'lure,/'ores/ry, and AnJmo/ Nusiandry WkTx tract/on ofM'ners/s 
^2^Abnuf3ctunnyar,</Afirc/>3nKil/n</iJstnea K^ Transpor/aOon 

I \p i,Mr Seri'Ke(f^oi£/seh'here aassifiecf) ^^ZAP rofessional Ser vice 

^^DomesficanfPersano/Sery/ca ^^Trode ^d C/erica/ Occupations 

Fig. I. — Proportion of persons engaged in occupa- 
tions BY STATES, 1910. [From U. S. Census] 

72 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 73 



Age-groupings of workers. In view of the two tendencies, 
(1) to raise the age limit of compulsory school attendance, (2) 
to keep children out of industry, a summary of figures represent- 
ing the proportions of workers belonging to each age-group in 
1910 is instructive and will be interesting for comparison in 
future years. Figure II, from the Census, affords a general 
idea of the distribution of gainful workers throughout the 
country with regard to age, and each sex, and both sexes. 



10 20 



30 40 60 60 



BOTH SEXES 

10 TO 13 YEARS MALES 

FEMALES 

BOTH SEXES 

14 TO IS YEAFtS MALES 

FEMALES 

BOTH SEXES 

le TO 20 YEARS MALES 

FEMALES 



mi 


























zr 

m 


























BOTH SEXES 

45 YEARS AND OVER MALES 

FEMALES 



Fig. II. — Proportion which the gainful workers of each 
specified age constituted of all gainful workers, 1910 

Youth Classified Within and Without the Schools 

Three school problems. A consensus of enlightened opinion 
is that children should be kept out of industry and in the schools 
at least until sixteen years of age and even until eighteen years. 
From the economic viewpoint the competition of child and 
woman labor with the skilled adult, and from the hygienic 
standpoint the wholesome development of the human organism 
warrant this conviction. Questions about age, persistence in 
school, causes of elimination from school, entrance into industry, 
maladjustment of prevailing school organization to groups of 
children classified hy age and progress standards, — arise where- 



74 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

ever the establishment of prevocational schools, or continuation 
schools, or trade courses, night schools, or day vocational 
schools, is undertaken. 

It is well in considering the problems of vocational education 
that we be kept conscious of the main facts about school (a) 
elimination, (b) maladjustment, in age-grade groups, (c) en- 
rollment and costs in the existing schools. This understanding 
is desirable particularly for those who do not consider "vo- 
cational education" merely as something to be added, an 
adjunct, or appendage to the public schools, but who seek 
rather a wise and gradual renovation of the whole system 
consistent with the demands of individual and social develop- 
ment. 

Persistence and elimination. At the end of the first chapter 
we called attention to the necessity of stopping premature 
dropping out of pupils from school as one means of preserving 
the ideals of democracy. Faith in the power of the schools to 
cure some evils of society will be cast down, if the population 
does not pass through the school. Even perfect schools — perfect 
with regard to programs, plant, equipment, and teachers, would 
fail, if pupils do not enroll, or if they are eliminated prematurely. 
Elsewhere we have indicated the disparity of numbers in lower 
and higher schools (see p. 84) and the trend of elimination 
(see p. 79). This matter of the dropping of pupils from school 
is a cardinal fact touching movements for improved educational 
legislation, for compulsory attendance, prevocational and con- 
tinuation schools, evening classes, and problems of efficiency 
both in the schools and in industry. It is desirable to answer 
two questions : one, " What is the actual amount of efimination? " 
The other, "What are the causes of elimination?" Unfortu- 
nately, data are lacking for exact answers to the first, and aside 
from questionnaire studies expressing opinions, there are only 
about three extended, quantitative studies bearing scientifically 
upon the second question. 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 75 

The true amount of elimination will be ascertained only when 
through a period of consecutive years, school authorities care- 
fully keep accumulatively the results of individual record cards 
covering the school history of each child. Accurate, accumula- 
tive records of this type are not the rule, notwithstanding the 
recommendations of the Committee on Uniform Records and 
Reports. Various arithmetical devices for approximating the 
per cent of pupils who leave school after entering Grade I and 
before completing Grade XII have been used. Thorndike, 
Ayres, and Strayer, about ten years ago proposed three different 
methods of estimating the numbers of beginners entering an- 
nually, in a given distribution of school enrollment in the eight 
grades. Using an estimate of the number of beginners twelve 
years ago as a basis, this number was divided into the number 
enrolled in each of the grades, the decimals resulting, of course, 
indicating the percentages of "survivors" in each grade — the 
converse of the eliminated. 

The studies of Ayres, (2b) Strayer, (16) and Thorndike (18b) 
agreed roughly, in showing that about 50 per cent of pupils 
survived through Grade VIII, only about 10 or 12 per cent 
through Grade XII, the fourth year of the high school. Studies 
of this crude type showed wide variation among hundreds of 
cities. Strayer estimated that in the 318 cities from which he 
gathered returns by means of his questionnaires ''considerably 
more than half of the children are eliminated between the ages 
of 13 and 15 inclusive." 

More recently in the progressive city of Cleveland, Ohio, by 
Ayres' method, it was found that the proportion of survivors 
in the fourth year of the high school was about 19 per cent, 
while nearly two-thirds reached the eighth grade, — doubtless an 
unusually favorable showing. 

Computations for June, 1915, showed that nearly half of the 
pupils were gone at 15 years; at 16, two-thirds had dropped out; 
and at 17, only one in five remained. Figure III shows the 



76 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



relative numbers of pupils among a hundred beginners who re- 
mained in school in Cleveland at each age from 12 to 20. 



100 



97 



12 



53 



33 





21 


12 



□ 



12 13 Ik 15 16 17 18 19 20 

Fig. III. — Columns represent number of 
PUPILS among each hundred beginners 

WHO REMAIN IN SCHOOL AT EACH AGE FROM 

12 TO 20. 

Investigations during two years in New Orleans indicated 
in 1915 that less than 50 per cent of the white children, and less 
than 10 per cent of the negro children remained through Grade 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 77 

VIII. The study of the San Francisco schools made under the 
direction of the U. S. Commissioner, gives these figures: 

Approximately 75 per cent of the children enrolled in Grade Ila have 
disappeared by the time Grade Va is reached; only 6 per cent enter 
high school, and only 25 out of each 1000 children entering Grade Ila 
are graduated from high school. "Not all of these pupils leave the 
school system permanently without completing the high school course, 
since investigation shows many pupils who are one or more years 
behind the grades in which they would normally be found," says the 
San Francisco report. (15) 

Briggs claimed in 1919 that one of the most pleasing results 
of the secondary school development is its increased holding 
power, but that the losses between the beginning of the ninth 
grade and graduation were still very large. Quoting the report 
of the Kansas City Bureau of Measurements Briggs sets forth 
that in Kansas City, 1891, only four per cent of the pupils who 
entered the elementary schools completed the high school 
course, but in 1917 this per cent had increased to 19.8. Con- 
trasted with the record of seventeen other cities the report 
asserts that the approximate percentages of all pupils entering 
the public schools who complete the high school course is from 
7.3 and 7.4 for Newark and New York, to 25.8 and 25.9 for 
Portland, Oregon, and Seattle. (20) 

The U. S. Education Reports, 1916 and 1917, (vol. II, pp. 6-8) 
contain the estimate that, throughout the United States, of 
every 1000 pupils entering the first grade of 1906-1907, about 
117 will graduate from the high school in 1918. Of the 1000 
pupils entering the first grade in 1906-1907, about 1.5 per cent 
will graduate from college. 

It is probable that marked inaccuracies exist in all the above 
estimates. It is not necessary here to enter into detailed discus- 
sion of the statistical fallacies of contemporary school reports. 
The combined figures of the United States Census for children 



78 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

and youth (a) who were ehminated from school, (b) who never 
entered school, reveal the relation between population and 
actual school enrollment. Figures of this kind for the whole 
country are the resultants of many forces and differences 
economic, racial, educational, in the various states. Such a 
generalized statement can be prepared only by the Federal 
Census. On page 79 i^ a diagram (Figure IV) which exhibits 
the percentage of children attending school for each year of age 
for the ages 6 to 20 years, — the ages being taken as of "last 
birthday." Significant are the downward breaks of the curve 
a,t 13 years and again at 14 years of age. The improvement of 
child labor legislation since 1910 doubtless will disclose an ele- 
vation of the curve at these points, after the next Census. 

Causes of elimination. The causes of elimination as re- 
corded usually in the reports of school superintendents are 
tabulated after compiling the expressions of opinions made by 
teachers in the case of withdrawals. Typical reasons given for 
the withdrawal of pupils are these: Financial troubles, desire 
to earn, discouragement by absence, slow progress, failure and 
non-promotion, lack of interest, ill health, dissatisfied with 
course of study, withdrawn by parents, dissatisfaction with 
school administration, work at home, dislike of school, etc. 
Years ago Professor Book attempted by questionnaire to 
ascertain from high school pupils why their companions 
had withdrawn. A common allegation, he ascertained, was 
"lack of interest." Better than use of the questionnaire in 
studying the causes of elimination, is the attempt in each case 
of withdrawal to interview the parents, the eliminated pupil, 
and the teacher, and to study home conditions. A beginning 
in such sociological-pedagogical studies has been made by Van 
Den E arg, by Railey, and by Holley. It has by no means been 
demonstrated that economic reasons, poverty, etc., predomi- 
nantly force to withdrawal the majority of children who quit 
school prematurely. Causes vary in different communities. 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 79 



T as 10 M 13 13 'r4 IS IS IT IS 10 M . 

100 

































90 


























■ - 








^ 


y 








\ 














60 




/ 


/ 










\ 
















/ 














\ 












70 


















\ 












/ 
















N 


\ 










60 


/ 


















\ 










/ 


















\ 










60 




















\ 






























\^ 








40 






















\ 




























\ 








SO 
























\ 




























\ 






ao 
























\ 


s, 




























\ 




10 




























\ 




























N 


n 































6 7 a a 10 II 12 13 14 16 IS 17 la la 30 

Fig. IV. — Percentage attending school in the total 
POPULATION 6 to 20 years of age, 1909-10 

and in the meantime, the power of the schools to hold through 
interest and profitable work is seriously questioned — a problem 
too intricate for further analysis in these pages. The causes 
of elimination are complex, including an interplay of the in- 



80 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

fluence of home, play, industry, the school in its various aspects, 
and the desires and energies of the child. Beneficial, doubtless, 
the introduction of vocational courses and schools will prove 
to be, in the lessening of unnecessary elimination. It is futile 
and illusory to hope that the introduction of vocational courses 
of secondary or elementary grade will cure the evil of elimina- 
tion. However, they who regard indifferently or as "make- 
shifts" all continuation classes, part-time schools, and voca- 
tional, unit courses given in the evening, probably overlook the 
incontrovertible facts of heavy elimination of young persons 
before they have finished either high or even elementaryschools. 
Until the fact of elimination is remedied there must be supple- 
mental training for that too large group of young people outside 
of the school and now prematurely in industry. 

Results. Early eliminations of pupils between 14 and 18 
years from school generally result in waste to the individual and 
to society. There may be a few schools so unhealthful, arti- 
ficial, and nearly worthless that the shop is a better place for 
the youth than such a school. However, reports compiled from 
work certificates and studies of individuals in numbers, show 
that generally there is a pathetic aimless drifting from job to 
job after the eliminated boy or girl leaves school. The unskilled 
and temporary nature of the miscellaneous jobs open to young 
boys probably concerns age and physical strength more than 
education — i. e., "all boys may look alike" to an employer 
who has not a fair promotion plan or apprentice system. Boys 
and girls who remain in a proper school long enough to secure 
some special skill and knowledge of vocational value will in the 
long run have an advantage. 

Twenty-five cases selected by the writer at random from among 
more than a thousand boys under fifteen years of age, have records 
of an average of from four or five jobs during the first year out of school. 
These young boys stated the jobs they had already tried and also their 
preference or "ambition." E. g., Boy A: Errand boy, plumber's 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 81 

helper, office boy, in grocery, — ambition, bookkeeper; Boy B: Wagon 
boy, office boy, clerk for soap company, office boy — ambition, civil 
engineer; Boy C: In grocery, box factory, on ice wagon, blacksmith — 
ambition, blacksmith; Boy D: Folding bags, on delivery wagon, wrap- 
ping butter, on ice wagon — ambition, stenographer; BoyE: With jeweler, 
paper carrier, in cigar store, in office — ^ambition, stenographer; Boy F: 
In wine cellar, wine testing, with druggist, horse attendant — ambition, 
horse doctor; Boy G: In plumbing shop, with printer, newsboy, with 
broker — ambition, plumber; Boy H: Bundle boy, with plumber, office 
boy, in wine cellar — ambition, chauffeur; Boy I: Water boy, messenger, 
cash boy, office boy — ambition, lawyer; Boy J: Office boy, on wagon, 
in grocery, broom factory — ambition, electrician; Boy K: Window boy, 
box boy, cash boy, errand boy — ambition, sign painter. 

It is true that one may cite notable examples of men with 
little schooling who have attained distinction. Their very con- 
spicuity is the exception that proves the rule. In spite of severe 
handicaps some men and women learn, and gain great success. 
We may profitably remember, however, that there are only 
three general methods of learning and of profiting by experi- 
ence, and that given inherited capacity, it is by one or by all of 
these that we attain any knowledge or skill. The methods are: 
(1) Trial and error, (2) imitation, (3) reason and forethought. 
The first is the costly and wasteful ''school of experience." The 
second is useful where good examples are abundant and are 
consciously chosen. The third is peculiarly a human preroga- 
tive. The likelihood is, that the young, uneducated boy or 
girl who drifts from pillar to post in industry, will profit little 
by his trials and errors in the choice of occupation related to 
natural aptitude. Habits of failure early become fixed. If 
final selection of occupation is made, it is likely to be the result 
of merely accidental circumstances. In the meantime, years 
have slipped by; oftentimes health and morals have been un- 
dermined. The total results for society are economic waste, 
social unrest, increased poverty and misery. That great group 



82 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of the discontented, groping, incapable, ignorant, physically 
deteriorated — always a menace to civilized society, — is in large 
measure a final result of the process begun in premature elimi- 
nation from school, and divorcement from wholesome living in 
childhood. 

Maladjustment of groups within schools. Vocational edu- 
cation in certain of its phases, especially of the " prevocational " 
type, is sometimes spoken of optimistically as a panacea for 
maladjustments of children with reference to age and grade. 
Forms of manual training, and of elementary industrial work 
have been recommended for "retarded" children. In the 
treatment of the actually feeble-minded, as at Vineland, N. J., 
good educational use is made of forms of mechanical industry. 

The word "I'etarded," however, has been grievously abused 
by school administrators, medical inspectors, and students. 
The term retarded is variously used to denote children suffering 
from amentia; or to denote those who repeat school grades be- 
cause of failure; or more inclusively, to denote all children who 
are over-age for grade for any reason. In this last sense the 
word is used most commonly. Statistics are piling up showing 
percentages of children in school systems who are (a) "over- 
age," (b) " at-age," (c) or " under-age " for their respective grades. 
That is, if six years of age be arbitrarily adopted as the proper 
age for the first grade, seven years for the second grade, etc., 
then a child is technically "retarded" if he be nine years of 
age and in the second grade, or eight years of age in the first 
grade, etc. His being over-age may be due to: (1) slow progress, 
or repetition (which in time may be the fault of the home, or of 
the child, or of the school); (2) late entrance, after which he 
made normal progress, i. e., a grade per year; (3) lost time, or 
intermittent attendance. Thus, a "retarded" child, then, 
may be actually of slow, of usual, or even of rapid progress. 
This fact and the means for ascertaining it was set forth in the 
early monograph of Van Sickle, Witmer, and Ayres. Correct 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 83 

age-grade-progress classification is of a ninefold, rather than of 
a threefold type: namely, (1) under age and rapid progress; 
(2) under age and normal progress; (3) under age and slow prog- 
ress; (4) normal age and rapid progress; (5) normal age and 
normal progress; (6) normal age and slow progress; (7) over 
age and rapid progress; (8) over age and normal progress; (9) 
over age and slow progress. Nevertheless some of our prominent 
investigators and writers have neglected the ninefold division 
and have used the easier but imperfect threefold grouping, 
a grouping perhaps chiefly valuable to disseminate "facts of 
agitation," and yet one which may be grossly misleading. 
Some instances of "retardation" evince excellent adaptation; 
still other instances indicate feeble-mindedness. Chronological, 
physiological, and mental ages are distinct measures of maturity 
which should be remembered always in attempts to classify 
school children, and dependence upon a mere age-grade classi- 
fication belongs to past days. (8c) 

Vocational education not a cure. In some cities as many as 
fifty per cent of the school children have been classed as "re- 
tarded" according to the age-standard of the schools. It is 
futile to think that vocational education is the sole remedy for 
this kind of maladjustment. Retardation in our schools is 
the resultant of many interacting factors, some of them ignored 
or obscured heretofore by conventional statistics. Wallin 
summed up a dozen different plans and devices for facilitat- 
ing promotion, and Cubberley reviewed recently more than a 
score of special devices looking toward better adjustment of the 
schools. Elastic systems of grading, improved curricula, eco- 
nomical methods of instruction and learning, hygiene, coopera- 
tion with the home, more money to obtain high-class teachers — 
these are the kinds of remedies needed. Whether as pre vo- 
cational education in the elementary schools or as specialized 
occupational training in the secondary schools, vocational edu- 
cation will not become a cure-all for school evils. 



84 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



Distribution of school enrollment. With the usual limita- 
tions of generalized statistics, Table IV affords a review of the 
comparative enrollments and costs estimated by the United 
States Bureau of Education for all the schools of the country 
during 1916. 

TABLE IV 

School Enrollment and Estimated Cost in 1916 



Classification 


Enrollment, 
1915 


Estimated 

per capita 

cost 


Estimated 
total 
cost 


Public elementary schools 

Public high schools 


18,375,225 

1,328,984 

1,615,091 

155,044 

80,944 

303,223 

100,325 

183,286 

57,237 

14,080 

5,253 

20,181 

33,009 

3,436 

2,503 

20,000 

77,717 
60,000 


$28.86 
56.54 
32.00 
94.10 

157.47 

335.57 
158.34 
50.00 
157.92 
300.80 
498.34 
555.42 
116.69 

56.13 
50.00 

200.00 
32.00 

100.00 


$530,320,030 
75,140,755 


Private elementary schools 

Private high schools 


51,682,912 
14,589,640 


Other public and private secon- 
dary schools 

Universities, colleges, and profes- 
sional schools 


12,746,252 
101,752,542 


Normal schools 

Commercial and business schools. 


15,885,461 
9,164,300 
9,038,867 


Schools for the deaf 


4,235,264 


Schools for the blind 


2,617,780 


Schools for the feeble-minded . . . 

Government Indian Schools 

Schools in Alaska supported by 

the Federal Government 

Other public schools in Alaska . . . 


11,208,931 
3,851,820 

192,863 

125,150 

4,000,000 


Private kindergartens 

Miscellaneous, music, art, etc 


2,486,944 
6,000,000 




22,435,538 


38.11 


$855,039,511 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 85 

Noteworthy facts illustrated in Table IV on page 84 are 
four in number: 

(1) So far as numbers of pupils are concerned, and the fact 
of control of each generation of our people, the elementary 
schools — not the high schools or the colleges, present both the 
gravest problem and also the richest opportunity, in formulating 
an education adapted to the ends of knowledge, skill, and ethical 
idealism compatible with our democracy. 

(2) In view of the leadership overwhelmingly demonstrated 
by men and women who have gone through high school, or 
college, or both, it is to be regretted that the enrollment in these 
institutions is relatively so small. 

(3) The annual cost of elementary education is about sixty 
per cent of the total annual cost of education, but the estimated 
per capita costs of elementary education are about one half 
of that in public high schools, an eleventh of that in higher in- 
stitutions. 

(4) The table does not indicate important groupings within 
elementary and high schools. 

In order to observe these major groupings within the schools 
just referred to, we may study Table V. 



86 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



TABLE V 

Distribution of School Enrollment for 1915 According 
* TO Estimated Percentages 



Schools 



Estimated 
per cent 



Estimated 
enrollment 



First grade 

Second grade 

Third grade 

Fourth grade 

Fifth grade 

Sixth grade 

Seventh grade 

Eighth grade 

Total elementary 

First year high school. . . 
Second year high school 
Third year high school. . 
Fom-th year high school 
Total high school 

Higher Institutions 

Grand total 



21.4 

13.4 

12.7 

12.0 

10.2 

8.8 

6.8 

5.8 



91.1 



2.9 
1.9 
1.3 
1.2 



7.3 



1.8 



100. 



4,697,724 
2,956,568 
2,780,653 
2,654,714 
2,254,908 
1,849,104 
1,525,261 
1,271,384 



19,990,316 



629,432 
417,535 
292,180 

225,825 



1,564,972 



403,548 



21,958,836 



In interpretation of Table V we should note : 

(a) The disparity between the per cents of pupils respectively 
in Grade I (21.4), Grade VIII (5.8) and Fourth Year of High 
School (1.2). 

(b) The lower grades contain many "repeaters " in the grades, 
and therefore the diminishing numbers enrolled as we ascend 
the grades do not indicate the true amounts of eliminations or 
withdrawals from school. 

(c) The enrollment of higher institutions is but 1.8 per cent 
of the total school enrollment. That is, all of the colleges, uni- 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 87 

versities, and professional schools enroll in their four or more 
classes, a total group comprising less than one half of one per 
cent of the total population of the country. 

(d) It is a common claim that high schools, academies, col- 
leges and universities have been directed mainly to the prepara- 
tion of professional people — lawyers, doctors, teachers, engi- 
neers, ministers. It has been said that secondary schools and 
colleges have been rich— while specialized vocational schools 
and courses for the masses of our workers, who do not enter 
college or even complete the high school, have been utterly in- 
adequate. It is further claimed by the disgruntled with the 
public schools that the elementary schools do not in any sense 
prepare children for livelihood. The first claim and contrast 
is not so startling when we recall the essential leadership exer- 
cised by that small group of men who have passed through col- 
lege — our scientists, statesmen, physicians, educators, lawyers, 
surgeons, ministers. Society would degenerate and fall with- 
out the leadership of brains. Higher institutions require not 
less but greater support and enrollment. The second claim has 
some merit where schools have been formalized, but it loses force 
when one regards the best type of free, elementary school as 
affording truly a good general basis for all occupational activi- 
ties. In a very real sense the American elementary school is 
fundamentally vocational and it ministers to the largest and 
most important group of all. 

Visible efforts at adjustment. The kinds of schools indi- 
cated in the two tables above attest unmistakably the effort to 
adjust public education to the actual needs of population groups. 
From this point of view the extremely wide variety of schools — • 
elementary, secondary, higher, vocational — can be better under- 
stood, than by thinking of the manifold kinds of existing schools 
as merely a confusing mass of competing institutions. The end- 
less differentiations within each of the eighteen kinds of schools 
indicated in the tables is of course far reaching. The basis of 



88 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

all these differences in schools is fundamentally a more or less 
conscious attempt to adjust education to the needs of individ- 
uals and social groups. The new adjustments necessitated by 
the vocational movement involve all of the problems mentioned 
in the preceding pages, and many other issues which may be 
designated as "social problems." To state for the reader 
some of these problems in relation to vocational education is 
the business of the next chapter. 

Summary 

1. Good schools can not remain static. Sensitive to the real 

needs of individuals and of society they must be changed 
constantly under wise direction. A vocational course 
that can not be thus adjusted is out of place as truly as a 
formal, bookish one. The method of data-getting- and 
organization of necessary facts about the need of the in- 
dividual as a psycho-physical organism, and about the 
need of the community is indispensable for adjustment. 

2. The plain fact of individual differences of capacity and of 

interest among persons who may be classified alike is 
important in the construction of all educational programs. 

3. Groupings of the population upon the bases of race, geogra- 

phical location, occupation, and social, esthetic, political, 
or rehgious interests render our people highly hetero- 
geneous, although the bonds of conviction about democracy 
hold strongly. Consideration of the nature and of the 
relative stability of populations — national, state, local — 
is fundamental in the planning of educational and indus- 
trial programs. The mobility of labor bears an important 
relation to the type and duration of industrial education 
courses. 

4. Distinctions between the desires and the needs of social 

groups can be discerned. Immediate aims or objectives of 
schools must harmonize with the ultimate good of society 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 89 

as a whole, rather than necessarily with the demands of 
some one group or of groups of persons however influential. 
The principle of the relativity of all aims is an indispens- 
able guide to schoolmen. 

5. The groupings of society are highly complex and variable. 

Men and women are usually identified strongly with some 
particular group, occupational, poHtical, religious, or 
social, and therefore are likely to make both personal and 
collective demands upon the schools. 

6. The fields of vocational education comprise chiefly the com- 

mon (frequent) activities of the majority of people. Oc- 
cupational statistics are invariably inadequate to show the 
actual, present status of occupations but are useful if 
studied and interpreted rightly. Facts concerning pre- 
dominant industries, ages and sex of workers, stability 
of occupations, etc., must be weighed in providing suit- 
ably for specialized, vocational education in any com- 
munity. The facts should be obtained both for the local 
conmiunity and also for the state and country as a whole 
in order to provide an actuarial basis preliminary to the 
intensive study and establishment of vocational courses. 

7. Reports of the United States Commissioner of Education 

show that about 91 per cent of the public school enroll- 
ment is in the elementary schools, 7 per cent in the 
high schools, and 2 per cent in the higher institutions. 
About two-thirds of the total expenditures for education 
($855,039,511 in 1915) are spent annually for the public 
elementary and public high schools. From the stand- 
point of numbers of pupils and of costs, the lower schools, 
especially the elementary schools, present the most stu- 
pendous opportunity and responsibility of education for 
democracy. 

8. Elimination, or premature withdrawal of pupils from the 

lower schools is a menace to universal education and to 



90 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

democracy, although there seems to be an encouraging 
increase of persistence of attendance in schools. Prob- 
ably eleven or twelve pupils out of one hundred who enter 
the first grade of public schools as a rule graduate from 
high schools. To ascertain the amount and the causes 
of elimination and the remedies therefor, is an urgent 
problem in any school system. There are large nmnbers 
of boys and girls between 14 and 18 years of age now in 
industry who should be in school. Meanwhile the general 
and the vocational education of those persons who have 
withdrawn from school to enter industry unprepared for 
citizenship and efficiency must be continued in part-time 
and in evening schools. 
9. Age-grade maladjustment. The fallacious classification of 
children according to "age and grade" has led to am- 
biguity in the use of the term retardation which may refer 
merely to pupil's being classified because of late entrance 
or lost time with grade marked off for younger children, 
or it may refer to physical and mental arrest of growth. 
Vocational education even of an elementary or prevoca- 
tional type is not, as suggested by some enthusiasts, a 
cure-all either for elimination or for retardation. 
10. The wide variety of educational opportunity open to all 
in American schools is evidence of great progress in the 
adjustment of education to the needs of the individual 
and of society. 

Problems 

1. From individuals, and from groups of workers, born abroad, 

ascertain why they came to the United States. 

2. Explain why a miscellaneous group, great or small, may be 

less conservative than a group of individuals similar in 
race or origin. 

3. To what extent have the arts and crafts as taught in Europe 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 91 

been influential in your community because of the pres- 
ence of some skilled worker born abroad? Give concrete 
instances. 

4. How can you explain the actions and words of self-styled 

radicals who before or during or after the War fled from 
Europe to this country, and nevertheless who sneer at 
our customs and workers, rich or poor, in industry? Is 
the phenomenon one of ordinary turpitude, or do the 
cases you know evince symptoms of dementia? 

5. Ascertain the numbers of schools and teachers that entered 

into the life-record of each pupil in a high school group. 
Ask the pupils to describe in writing the effects upon them- 
selves of the changes noted. 

6. Repeat the Ayres study of the occupations, birthplaces, 

etc., of fathers of thirteen-year-old pupils, in a small city, 
or conununity, school system. Tabulate the returns. (2a) 

7. Endeavor to ascertain the specific aims of every teacher in 

a school, or system, as concerns the work of his or her 
class for the term or semester. Note the different aims, 
e. g., (a) vague, (b) clear cut, (c) cultural, (d) disciphnary, 
(e) utilitarian, etc., etc. In view of the nature of the 
work, how may the immediate aim in each instance be 
adjusted to a broad ultimate aim or ideal for the whole 
school? 

8. If certain societies, organizations, or groups of citizens 

(e. g., corporations, unions, clubs, churches), were form- 
ally to demand that certain desires of theirs concerning 
vocational education should be met by the School Board 
or Superintendent, aside from diplomacy what criterion 
of values should determine the response? 

9. Estimate for your own city during 1910 the percentage dis- 

tributions of workers in the nine occupational groupings 
of the U. S. Census. For a more extensive study do the 
same for every city of more than 25,000 inhabitants in 



92 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

your state. Data may be obtained from Vol. IV, U. S. 
Census, 1910. 

10. What specific types of education seem to be needed in 

your immediate community in order to achieve economic 
prosperity and better citizenship and social life for the 
masses of the people? 

11. Study the methods of surveys of industries made in Minne- 

apolis, Cleveland, Richmond, and New Orleans, and then 
endeavor to draw up a plan of study of industries from 
the educational viewpoint, suitable for your own city. 

12. What is the law regarding child labor in your state? How 

is it enforced in your own community? 

13. Sum up reasons why boys and girls might advantageously 

be kept out of industry at least until 18 years of age. 

14. Plan and execute a scientific study of the amount, causes, 

and results of elimination and remedies therefor, as con- 
cern a school, or a system. 

15. Make an age-grade-progress study of a school, classifying 

the children into nine groups. Do this by securing school 
records of age, and terms in school for each pupil. Have 
the older pupils describe accurately in a composition 
their uses of time out of school with reference to (a) 
work, (b) play, (c) sleep. Tabulate the data in the com- 
positions and relate to each of the nine groups. 

16. By means of a blank form obtain the following information 

from parents of pupils over thirteen years of age who are 
in elementary and in high schools. Occupational prefer- 
ence of parent for son or daughter? Occupational prefer- 
ence of the pupil? What training has been obtained for 
the preferred occupation? What other school is it de- 
sired that the pupil enter, if any? 

17. From night school pupils obtain data concerning (a) present 

occupations, (b) past jobs, (c) ambition. Endeavor to 
tabulate this information for practical use. 



ADJUSTMENTS TO INDIVIDUAL AND TO SOCIETY 93 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Ayres, L. P. Cleveland School Survey. Summary volume, pp. 84-88. 

2. Ayres, L. P. Russell Sage Foundation, N. Y. 

(a) Constant and variable occupations and their bearings on prob- 
lems of vocational education. Bulletin E. 136. 
(6) Laggards in the Schools, 1913, 236 p. 

3. Berry, C. S. University of Michigan. Retardation, Acceleration, 

Elimination and Repetition in the Public Elementary Schools of 
225 Towns and Cities of Michigan, 40 p., 1917. 

4. Cyclopedia of Education, vol. II, pp. 410-413. 

5. Child Labor, List of References. U. S. Department of Labor, Chil- 

dren's Bureau, Publication 18, 1916, 161 p. Probably the best and 
most extensive annotated bibliography, showing recent studies and 
legislation concerning child labor. 

6. Crampton, C. Ward. The differences between anatomical, physiolog- 

ical, psychological and chronological ages as causes of derailment. 
Proc. Nat. Assn. for Study of Education of Exceptional Children, 
1910. 

7. Giddings, F. H. Sociology. Columbia University Lectures, N. Y., 

1909, pp. 5-43. 

8. Hill, David S. (a) Facts about the Public Schools in Relation to Vo- 

cation Commission Council, New Orleans, 1914, 57 p., pp. 47-49. 
(6) Educational Research in Public Schools (with Mary L. Railey). 

Pubhc Schools, New Orleans, 1915, 214 p. lU. 
(c) Remaining Errors in Measures of Retardation, Elementary 

School Journal, Chicago, May 1919, pp. 700-712. 

9. HoUey, C. E. The Relation between Persistence in School and Home 

Conditions. Fifteenth Yearbook, Nat. Soc. for the Study of Educ, 
1916, 119 p. 

10. McDonald, R. A. F. Adjustment of School Organization to Various 

Population Groups, N. Y., 1915, 145 p. 

11. O'Shea, M. V. Social Development and Education, N. Y., 1909, 

561 p. 

12. Ranken, Janet R. Wisconsin's Over-Age Children. Madison, Wis., 

1916, 12 p. 

13. Report of the Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education. 

Washington, D. C. House Document 1004. 1914, pp. 113-114. 
vol. I. Two volumes bound in one. Contain data, reports, and hear- 
ings of the Commission, the work of which preceded the passage of 
the Smith-Hughes Act. 



94 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

14. Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education. 1917, vol. II, p. 7. 

15. San Francisco; Survey of the Public School System, made under direc- 

tion of the United States Commissioner of Education. U. S. Edu- 
cation Bulletin 46, 1917, 649 p. 111. 

16. Strayer, G. D. Age and Grade Census of Schools and Colleges. U. S. 

Education Bulletin 5, 1911. 

A comprehensive statistical study of 318 cities, but does not follow 

the correct ninefold age-grade-progress classification. 

17. T-hirteenth Census, Washington, D. C, 1910. Occupations, vol. IV, 

pp. 43, 53, 57, 70. 

This section of the decennial census contains the most statistical 
information available concerning occupations in the United States. 
It contains detailed data for the country as a whole, for states, and 
for cities, under various classifications. Population, vol. I, p. 1099. 

18. Thorndike, E. L. (a) Education, N. Y., 1912, 292 p. Excellent in- 

troduction to the science of education from psychological view- 
point. Chapters I and II contain discussion of relative values and 
aims. 

(b) Elimination of pupils from school. U. S. Education Bulletin 4, 

1917. 

(c) Educational Psychology, 1914, vol. Ill, 408 p. 

19. Uniform records and reports: Final report of the Committee of the 

National Council of the N. E. A., St. Louis, 1912, p. 51. 

20. United States Education Bulletin 47, 1918. Thomas H. Briggs on 

Secondary Education. 44 p. 

21. Van Den Burg, J. K. Causes of the Elimination of Pupils in Public 

Secondary Schools. N. Y., 1912. A first-hand study of elimination 
from certain high schools of New York. 

22. VanSickle, Witmer, Ayres. Provisions for Exceptional Children in 

Pubhc Schools. U. S. Education BuUetin 14, 1911, p. 26. 



CHAPTER IV 

SOCIAL PROBLEMS IN RELATION TO VOCATIONAL 
EDUCATION 

Arguments for Vocational Education: Unwise expectations; twelve 
reasons stated; other results desired. 

Dangers in Vocational Education: Claim appraisals due; Bawden's 
defense; biological adaptation essential. 

Definite Rewards of Vocational Education: The highest compensation; 
the money- values of education; poverty and education. 

Literacy Needed as Well as Skill: Elementary education indispensable; 
the tide of immigration; Talbot's conclusions. 

Crime and Vocational Education: Virtue and knowledge; education for 
juvenile unfortunates; typical modern institutions; the Fellenberg move- 
ment. 

Rehabilitation of the Disabled: Vocational education of industrial 
cripples; rehabilitation of disabled soldiers; rehabilitation in the United 
States. 

Social Pedagogy: Pestalozzi; Giddings. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

Arguments for Vocational Education 

Unwise expectations. The benefits to society of that phase 
of education called vocational demonstrably are numerous and 
important. However, some of the benefits attributed to special- 
ized training for useful occupation evidently can be obtained 
from many other phases of education. This observation is a 
valid criticism of the arguments brought forward by extremists 
who see in specific vocational education an absolute remedy for 
evils such as poverty, ignorance, and crime. 

Twelve reasons stated. That vocational education lower 
than college grade is expected to meet beneficially economic and 
social needs is evinced by the statements set forth by its ad- 

95 



96 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

vocates. We present below the substance of twelve proposi- 
tions formulated by the Federal Commission on National Aid 
to Vocational Education in its formal report to Congress shortly 
before the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act by that body. 
These propositions were presented as arguments to show eco- 
nomic, social, and educational needs for vocational education, 
and the advisability of national support. They were written 
it is to be remembered, before the World War, and although 
open in part to the criticism referred to above, nevertheless 
contain sound reasons for the strong support of vocational edu- 
cation below college grade. The thoughtful student will note 
whatever the strength of the arguments may prove to be, that 
(a) there is a difference between the matter of need for voca- 
tional education, and the matter of advisability of federal sup- 
port; and that (b) there is considerable overlapping or duplica- 
tion in the twelve reasons as set forth below in condensed 
form:(ll) 

1. Vocational Training is Required to Conserve and Develop 
OUR Natural Resources. — As the asset of natural resources lessens 
or falls in the scale, the asset of human labor rises in importance. 
American agriculture has prospered in the past because it rested upon 
the basis of the richest soil in the world — a fertility which, with the 
usual prodigality of this people, has been treated as if it were inex- 
haustible. This favorable condition itself has delayed for a century 
too long in the United States the cooperation of the National Govern- 
ment with the States in the systematic training of the American farmer. 
Only thoroughgoing agricultural education, making the farmer an in- 
telligent user of the natural wealth with which Providence has blessed 
us as a people, can restore and preserve our boasted agricultural su- 
premacy. ... 

The American manufacturer has prospered in the past because of 
four factors: 

(1) The abundance and cheapness of raw material. 

(2) The inventive genius of this people. 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 97 

(3) Organizing ability leading to production on a large scale. 

(4) A great body of cheap foreign labor of the first generation work- 
ing its way upward in our midst to civic and industrial worth. 

With the opening of new sources of supply in foreign countries, and 
with the gradual depletion of our own virgin resources in many lines, 
our advantage from an abundance and cheapness of raw material, 
at least so far as regards commercial competition, is a decreasing one. 
We can not continue to draw indefinitely on Europe for cheap labor, 
nor will cheap labor in the immediate future meet the urgent need in 
American industry for the more intelligent service necessary if we are 
to satisfy the rising demand for a better product from our domestic 
as well as our foreign markets. In the proportion that our resource 
factor fails we must increase the efficiency of human labor in the shop 
as well as on the farm. 

The conservation and full utilization of our natural resources can 
be accomplished only in proportion as we train those who handle them. 
Public discussion and legislative fiat must be supplemented by an 
agricultural education which will teach the farmer how to make the 
soU yield an abundance and at the same time leave it rejuvenated, 
and by an industrial education which will teach our workers in shops 
and factories how to use material without waste, and how to turn the 
products of our forests and our mines into articles of higher and still 
higher value. 

2. Vocational Training is Needed to Prevent Waste of Hu- 
man Labor. — The greatest treasure which this country holds to-day 
is the undeveloped skill and vocational possibiHties, not only of the 
milfions of our workers everywhere, but of the great army of our 
school children, hundreds of thousands of whom pass annually from 
the doors of our elementary schools to serve in the shop, the field, 
and the office. So far we have given but little attention to the conser- 
vation of our human resources. 

Vocational education will reduce to a minimum the waste of labor 
power, the most destructive form of extravagance of which a people 
can be guilty. 

In any community there are always to be fomid three character- 
istic forms of waste labor power : 



98 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

(1) The army of the unemployed or the involuntarily idle. 

(2) The imperfectly employed or the untrained. 

(3) The improperly employed, the acquisitively rather than the 
productively employed. . . . 

3. Vocational Training is Needed to Provide a Supplement to 
Apprenticeship. — The American industrial worker, with all his native 
qualities, is relatively speaking, becoming more unskilled. Since the 
schools have as yet assumed no responsibility for those who go to work, 
the youth must get the rest of his education in an industrial organiza- 
tion, which no longer is able or willing to train its own workers. Large- 
scale production, extreme division of labor, and the all-conquering 
march of the machine, have practically driven out the apprenticeship 
system through which, in a simpler age, young helpers were taught not 
simply the technique of some single process but the "arts and mysteries 
of a craft." The journeyman and artisan have given way to an army 
of machine workers, performing over and over one small process at one 
machine, turning out one small part of the finished article, and knowing 
nothing about the business beyond their narrow and limited task. The 
age of science and invention has brought in its wake a great body of 
knowledge, related to the work of the mechanic, and necessary to his 
highest success, which the shop can not give without the help of the 
schools. 

In the skilled callings the young worker seldom gets the breadth 
of experience or the information which he must have in order to realize 
himself, and he must, under present conditions, remain on a relatively 
low level of skill. Most of those who leave school at the age of 14, 
finding the doors of the skilled occupations closed to them, tend to 
enter all sorts of low grade skilled and unskilled industries, affording 
little or no opportunity for better wages or for promotion to a desir- 
able life work. In the absence of a system of education which will 
follow them to these tasks, and, by continued training, show them a 
way to efficiency and happiness, the time which most of these children 
spend in the factory is unprofitable, both to themselves and to society. 
The few adolescents who rise to success as wage earners, whether by 
accident, rule of thumb, or sheer force of native qualities, acquire their 
skill and insight in ways that are wasteful to them and to business. 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 99 

4. Vocational Training is Needed to Increase Wage-earning 
Power.— The practical training of workmen in any pursuit brings both 
immediate and lasting economic returns in increased production and 
wage-earning capacity. 

5. Vocational Training is Needed to Meet the Increasing 
Demand for Trained Workmen. — With the constantly increasing 
demand upon our industries for more and better goods, the supply of 
trained workers is, relatively at least, diminishing. 

6. Vocational Training is Needed to Offset the Increased 
Cost of Living. — With a farming area practically stationary, a rapidly 
increasing population, and an agricultural class whose ability with 
present methods to meet the demands for larger production is relatively 
diminishing, our national appetite has outgrown both our national 
larder and our national pocketbook. Population tends to press upon 
subsistence. ... 

7. Vocational Education is a Wise Business Investment. — In 
the last analysis expenditure of money for vocational education is a 
wise business investment which will yield larger returns, not only in 
educational and social betterment but in money itself, than a similar 
amount spent for almost any other purpose. The Commission recog- 
nizes that boys and girls can not be valued in terms of dollars and cents, 
save as these represent returns in social well-being both to themselves 
and to society. The financial argument below is offered from that 
standpoint alone. 

There are more than 25,000,000 persons 18 years of age and over in 
this country engaged in farming, mining, manufacturing and me- 
chanical pursuits, trade and transportation. 

If we assume that a system of vocational education, pursued through 
the years of the past, would have increased the wage-earning capacity 
of each of these to the extent of 10 cents a day, this would make an 
increase in wages for the group of $2,500,000 a day, or $750,000,000 
a year, with all that this would mean to the wealth and life of the nar- 
tion. This is a very modest estimate, and while no complete figures 
are available it is probably much nearer 25 cents a day, which would 
make a total increase in wages of $6,250,000 per day and $1,875,000,- 
000 per year. . . . 

Let us assume further that the expectancy of life ahead of youths at 



100 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

18 is only 30 years. An increase of 10 cents a day in wage-earning 
capacity would on this assumption amount to .130 a year, or $900 in 
30 years, in additional wages. An outlay of S150 in training between 
14 and 18 years of age would thus be made to yield a return six times 
as great. In five years the increase in wages would cover the total 
cost of vocational training for each worker. If the increase in wage- 
earning capacity were 25 cents a day, the increase in the wage return 
in one year would be $75 and in 30 years $2,250, an amount 15 times 
as great as the original outlay. On this assumption the increased wage- 
earning power could repay the cost of instruction for each worker in 
two years. 

8. Our National Prosperity is at Stake. — We have become a 
great industrial as well as a great agricultural nation. Each year 
shows a less percentage of our people on the farms and a greater in 
the cities. . . . 

9. Vocational Training is Needed to Democratize the Educa- 
tion OF THE Country: 

(a) By recognizing different tastes and abilities and by giving an equal 
opportunity to all to prepare for their life work. . . . 

(b) By extending education through part-time and evening instruction 
to those who must go to work in the shop or on the farm. 

10. Vocational Training is Needed for Its Indirect but Posi- 
tive Effect on the Aims and Methods of General Education: 

(a) By developing a better teaching process through which children who 
do not respond to hook instruction alone may be reached and educated 
through learning by doing. . . . 

(b) By introducing into our educationcd system the aim of utility to 
take its place in dignity by the side of culture, and to connect education 
with life by making it purposeful and useful . 

11. Industrial and Socla.l Unrest is Due in Large Measure 
to a Lack of Vocational Training. — The absence of opportunity for 
creative work and, hence, for full self-expression is, without doubt, one 
of the causes of much of the present unrest. The tendency of large 
scale production to subdivide labor almost indefinitely and to confine a 
worker to one monotonous process, requiring little save purely manip- 
ulative skill, while effective so far as the material product is concerned, 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 101 

is serious when measured in terms of human values. It is safe to say 
that industry in its highly organized form, with its intense specializa- 
tion, is in the main narrowing to the individual worker, and while 
" hands" alone may satisfy the immediate demands of industry, the 
failure to recognize and provide for human progress and development 
is producing a restless and discontented people. 

Out of this unrest comes a demand for a more practical education for 
those who toil, an education that will better fit them to progress in 
industry and enable them to rise to ranks of leadership and responsi- 
bility. Everywhere it is the opinion of those who are studying the con- 
ditions of society that the lack of practical education is one of the pri- 
mary causes of social and industrial discontent. . . . 

12. Higher Standards of Living are a Direct Result op Better 
Education. — Better standards of living are in the main dependent 
upon two important factors, namely, an increased earning capacity for 
the great mass of our people and a better understanding of values. 
Vocational education aims at both. Where there is intense poverty 
there is little hope of developing higher standards. The one hope of 
increasing the family income lies in better vocational training. 

It is equally true that vocational education enlarges the worker's 
vision and arouses within him a desire for progress. This is shown by 
the number of men and women who, by means of further training and 
education, raise themselves from the ranks of unskilled labor to take 
positions requiring large directive powers and responsibilities. Our 
only hope of progress is in helping the individual to help himself. 
This is at the bottom of all social uplift. (11) 

Other results desired. From three types of proposed 
schools — the all-day industrial school, the part-time school, 
and the evening school, the Comjnission further suggested that 
many desirable results might be expected :(11) 

First, from the all-day industrial school, we may expect: (a) The re- 
tention in school longer of boys and girls who now are eliminated on 
account of lack of interest; (b) a wiser choice by them of a vocation 
because of an opportunity to test ability and discover likes and dis- 
likes; (c) greater certainty of success in a vocation because of the de- 
velopment of a more definite purpose in life, of an increased industrial 



102 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

intelligence, of an insight into the fundamental principles of a trade, 
and the acquisition of sufficient skill to shorten the period of appren- 
ticeship; (d) a greater readiness to profit by part-time or evening in- 
struction for the sake of future advancement or promotion. 

Secondly, as concerns the part-time schools: Nearly 4,500,000 bread- 
winners in this country are under 18 years of age. A majority of them 
left school before completing the elementary schools and are unpre- 
pared either for successful wage earning or citizenship. Formerly the 
schools largely abandoned the adolescent wage earner to the shop and 
factory, and have taken no further responsibility for his guidance or 
training. This is unfortunate at the age when a youth or girl most 
needs instruction, discipline and the direction of social and industrial 
interests. 

Part-time instruction while perhaps only a mitigating device pro- 
vides instruction for those whose education at present would be termi- 
nated by entrance to a job. The purpose of part-time schools should be 
twofold — (1) To increase the general intelligence of young workers and 
lead them to understand better their social and civic duties; (2) to 
increase their industrial intelligence and skill and develop capacity 
for advancement within a given trade where such opportunity exists, 
or where it does not exist, to prepare for some other skilled and re- 
munerative work. 

Thirdly, it is believed that the evening school is the only agency to 
do a large part of urgently needed work, although it may be only an 
imperfect and temporary agency. "So far as evening work for men, 
at least, is concerned, it is probable that the best immediate returns in 
increased economic efficiency from industrial or trade training come 
from instruction in the evening classes attended by adult workers" 
(ibid, p. 54). " The part-time school is particularly needed for working 
children because both physicians and social workers are agreed that 
the attendance upon evening schools of immature children under 16 
years of age, after the strain of a long day's toil, brings in its wake far 
more physical injury than educational advantage" (ibid, p. 51). 

Dangers in Vocational Education 
Calm appraisals due. Naive confidence in the power of 
a new vocational education to cure or to prevent the chief evils 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 103 

of social organization should be met by calm appraisal of its real 
values and dangers. The arguments frequently advanced in 
behalf of vocational education encounter opposition more po- 
tent than the easy declaration of some critics that vocational 
education is only a fad. It is asserted for example that the 
vocational education program "is determined by an incomplete 
vision of the real meaning of education, and that its aims are 
indefensibly narrow." It is feared by some that there is a tend- 
ency to prescribe the future careers of boys and girls. An al- 
leged insurmountable difficulty is the impossibility of adapting 
specific vocational education to the rapidly changing conditions 
of commerce and industry. The development of vocational 
education as a public responsibility is also opposed upon the 
ground of inordinate expense. Finally, both friendly and un- 
friendly critics fear lest the control of vocational education fall 
under the control of sinister or selfish interests,— a real danger 
if corporations, or if unions, or if private interests, or if incom- 
petents, should ever obtain sole administrative control or in- 
fluence in schools closely articulated with the processes of labor 
and the daily welfare of the masses of workers. Equally sinister 
would be selfish control of executives by political combinations, 
or cliques, or personal interests — a possibility against which a 
democratic press and people must guard zealously. 

Bawden's defense. W. T. Bawden in considering some of 
the objections mentioned has set forth refutations of each. The 
accusation of narrowness of aim, is based, he says, upon the 
judgment of critics having in mind certain private institutions 
run for gain, or remediable defects in administrative machinery. 
Concerning prescription of future careers: "There is no issue 
with regard to vocational education under 14 years of age, since 
as Snedden points out, there is little or no serious discussion of 
vocational education, as direct and purposive preparation for a 
specific calling, which now contemplates any claim upon the 
years required in most states to be given to compulsory school 



104 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

attendance, namely from 6 to 14 years of age. Neither has there 
been offered any serious proposal to curtail existing opportuni- 
ties for advanced education and culture. The point that appears 
to be overlooked in this criticism is that, regardless of where the 
responsibility lies, there are thousands of young people who are 
not receiving the advantages of education or training of any 
kind." The objection of impossibility of adaptation to indus- 
trial change is met by four considerations : (a) Specific training 
is an asset for an individual and gives confidence even if a new 
calling becomes necessary; (b) the problem of vocational educa- 
tion will not be solved until ways and means are found to fit the 
individual for more than a particular "job" — and this is under- 
stood; (c) the possibility of some adjustment on the part of 
industry itself must be assmned; (d) to advocate a halt in the 
progress of vocational education because of besetting difficulties 
is unjustifiable in educators. (1) 

Vocational education of less than college grade is expensive, 
admits Bawden. Says he, "It costs the public far more to 
educate a surgeon or a lawyer or an engineer than it does to 
educate a young person for one of the industrial or commercial 
pursuits contemplated, and yet there is no great outcry against 
medical or legal or engineering education because it is ex- 
pensive." 

Biological adaptation essential. A real danger of no little 
magnitude in introducing specialized vocational training, es- 
pecially with emphasis upon articulating the school with the 
needs of industry, is neglect of biological adaptation. The 
demands of modern industry, and of schools, often ignore the 
anatomical and physiological nature of men and of women. 
Perfect mechanical adjustment to community or industrial 
demands does not necessarily imply careful regard of the nat- 
ural capacities and functioning of our organisms, the product 
of untold centuries of adaptation to environment altogether 
different from modern conditions. Here arise grave question^ 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 105 

with regard to food, ventilation, sleep, recreation; the protec- 
tion of eye and ear, and other sense organs against uses not 
suitable to the inherited organism; the allotment of labor as 
suited to age and sex and race. Peculiarly necessary to the edu- 
cator who seeks both a scientific and an ethical adjustment be- 
tween school and the active life of the community, is a knowl- 
edge of the facts of adolescence, as revealed by psychology, 
anthropology, and sociology, as well as a practical acquaint- 
ance with industrial conditions. 

The Definite Rewards of Vocational Education 

The highest compensation. The trend of available studies 
leads irresistibly to the belief that increase of vocational educa- 
tion generally produces superior earning power. The social 
significance of vocational education, however, does not rest 
solely upon this demonstrated result measured in money. The 
broadening and uplifting of human life, the help toward attain- 
ment by the individual of an ultimate aim embracing health, 
independence, righteousness, happiness, and altruism — that is a 
result not measurable either by dollars, or by chronoscopes of 
the laboratory. 

The money-values of education. Sound elementary training 
in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, and science, 
facilitates increase of earnings by the ambitious individual. The 
peculiar appeal of specialized vocational education is the in- 
creased power of money-getting, which promises for the Individ » 
ual more comfort and independence. There is available a 
considerable bibliography (35) of studies which seek to prove 
that monetary recompense and social distinctions result from 
education, — elementary, higher, and vocational, e. g., the 
studies by Charles Thwing, W. W. Smith, J. C. Jones, Florence 
Marshall, J. M. Dodge, A. C. Ellis. Ellis' study summarizes 
some of the available material in striking form. (9) Examples 
of the materials he summarizes are these: Chancellor Smith 



106 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

shows statistically that the majority of men in high public posi- 
tions in the Federal Government have been college graduates. 
Mr. Dodge attempted to compute the capitalized "value" of 
laborers, apprentices,; trades school graduates and technical 
school graduates. He considered the money value of a worker 
to be that sum wttich at five per cent would yield an income 
equal to the salary or wage received. His results suggest the 
overwhelming advantage of technical training. Similar studies 
were made by the Massachusetts Commission on Industrial 
Education, and by tracing the records of graduates of such 
schools as the Beverly (Mass.) Trade School, the Baron de 
Hirsch Trade School, the Milwaukee School of Trades, the New 
York Vocational School for Boys, the Rochester Shop School, 
the Newark Evening Technical School, the Manhattan Trades 
School for Girls. 

The almost invariable deduction made from such studies is 
that vocational training produces eventually in the individual 
greatly increased earning power and that such training is an 
antidote against that great evil of society — poverty. However, 
valid criticisms of the above type of statistical investigation in- 
clude these observations : The problem has sometimes been ap- 
proached in the spirit of one having a case to prove. In some 
cases the employers mentioned were exceptional. Too small 
groups were studied. Racial, climatic, and geographical factors 
are involved. The fact that persons persevere through long 
training with definite aim, may indicate unusual intelligence 
and capacity in these persons at the outset of their education. 
When one is preparing a brief for vocational education, such 
logical considerations can not be safely overlooked. 

Poverty and education. The arguments that vocational 
education will increase the prosperity of the individual are 
alluring when one contemplates the evils of poverty. Poverty is 
more than being poor; it means "the lack of due food and lodg- 
ing and clothing." The worst of it is that the blight of poverty 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 107 

in a family falls heaviest upon the child. Says one radical in- 
vestigator graphically : 

No more responsible for its poverty than for its birth, the helpless- 
ness and innocence of the victim add infinite horror to its suffering, 
for the centuries have not made tolerable the idea that the weakness 
or wrongdoing of its parents or others should be expiated by the suffer- 
ing of the child. Poverty, the poverty of civilized man, which is every- 
where coexistent with unbounded wealth and luxury, is always ugly, 
repellent, and terrible either to see or to experience; but when it assails 
the cradle it assumes its most hideous form. Underfed, or badly fed, 
neglected, badly housed, and improperly clad, the child of poverty 
is terribly handicapped at the very start; it has not an even chance to 
begin life with. While still in its cradle a yoke is laid upon its after 
years, and it is doomed either to die in infancy, or, worse still, to live 
and grow up puny, weak, both in body and in mind, inefficient and 
unfitted for the battle of life. And it is the consciousness of this, the 
knowledge that poverty in childhood blights the whole of life, which 
makes it the most appalling of all the phases of the poverty prob- 
lem. (30) 

Preparation for self-support is an abiding value in vocational 
education whether for the son of the poor or of the rich. It is 
a mistake, however, in emphasizing the economic significance 
of vocational education to ignore in any community the real 
causes of poverty, which are manifold. There are causative 
factors which only the individual can remedy, such as the ab- 
sence of the plain virtues of industry, honesty, thrift; ignorance 
and lack of skill; drunkenness, and addiction to drugs; vice. 
There may be low mentality. Unavoidable conditions may 
operate, such as weather, seasons, enforced idleness, theft, un- 
fair discrimination, ill health, accident, old age. Education is 
more potent as a preventive of poverty than as a remedy. 
Education for health, for self-adjustment, for skill and knowl- 
edge, is the kind of vocational education preventive of poverty. 
Promising indeed is the effect of wise emphasis upon this kind 



108 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of vocational training to combat by preparedness for industry, 
not merely the reality of poverty, but also that lifelong agony 
of thousands of men and women — the dread of pauperism. 

Literacy Needed as Well as Skill 

Elementary education indispensable. Inability to read and 
write is not invariably a sign of low intelligence; nevertheless 
the ability to read and write is a fundamental requirement of 
active, far-sighted citizenship. Notwithstanding the lure of 
higher wages and of greater production it would ruin our democ- 
racy to encourage training in mere skill of groups of workers 
without ability to read the papers and books of the day and 
without ideals. Ignorance and crude power are essentials of 
bolshevism. 

The tide of immigration. In some progressive states before 
the World War a flood of illiterate, ignorant umnigrauts was 
with difficulty absorbed. More stringent immigration laws 
which invite the worthy, intelligent immigrant and exclude the 
unfit will lessen the evil. The problem, however, may become 
acute once more when the tide of immigration swells again. 
The public schools are being called upon to teach adults. The 
task of removing adult illiteracy is as important as special- 
ized trade training. The immediate demands are for the ele- 
ments of general education, and also for unit trades courses, 
and for specialized vocational work for adults, in order to fa- 
cilitate adjustment to industry and to secure individual pro- 
motion. In the multiplication of evening classes and with the 
incoming tide of enthusiasm for highly specialized, vocational 
courses of the unit type, it is necessary not to overlook or slight 
the condition of men and women who need with skill of hand 
also abihty to read easily our books, journals, and laws, in order 
to understand the habits and ideals of democracy. 

Talbot's conclusions. As a result of analyses of the Census, 
Talbot concludes that some states wherein the proportion of 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 109 

adult illiterates to literates was greatest, are now showing most 
rapid reduction of illiteracy, whereas some progressive states 
are now at a standstill with regard to the reduction of illiteracy. 
The United States Bureau of Education has done good work 
in the promotion of the movement for the removal of adult 
illiteracy throughout the country. 

Crime and Vocational Education 

Virtue and knowledge. There is hope, if we could abolish 
illiteracy, ignorance, and inefficiency with its resulting poverty, 
that evil-doing would decrease. However, the actual corre- 
lation between knowledge and virtue, education and crime, is 
a theme as old as Socrates. 

It is necessary to draw distinctions in the matter of crime, (10) 
and also in the matter of the many kinds and aspects of formal 
education. A political criminal of one age may be a hero in 
another generation; criminals of impulse are often persons of 
excellent training; habitual criminals may be morons or defec- 
tives, or they may be victims of drugs. Under the laws of some 
states youths adjudged delinquent are so only technically. 
Men of education and position may be secretly monsters of 
iniquity. There are degrees and differences in human error, 
misdemeanor, felony, vice, crime, wickedness, sin. Conse- 
quently no brief generalization, such as ''illiteracy", or ''lack 
of vocational education" can suffice for an explanation of crime. 
We need also only to indicate how general is the concept "edu- 
cation", for the types of modern school are exceedingly varied 
and numerous. 

It seems significant that hundreds of penitentiary inmates 
are men who never had a skilled trade. Thomas S. Mosby, 
former Pardon Attorney of the State of Missouri, declares : 

Nearly three-fourths of the persons found in our penitentiaries are 
persons unable to earn a living excepting at the most rudimentary 
form of labor, whose means of livelihood are limited to the most primi- 



no INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

tive methods, and whose earning capacity is at the lowest possible 
stage. We find, therefore, the maximum of dishonesty with the min- 
imum of earning power. In other words, men who are not especially 
skilled in the arts and processes of trade, and who are wholly untrained 
as to honorable and profitable occupations, are most likely to try to 
gain a living by unlawfully taking the property of others (p. 135). 
Only about one-fourth of our penitentiary convicts are illiterates. 
Three-fourths of them are incompetents (p. 138). Trade schools are 
cheaper than reform schools, and manual training than convict labor 
(p. 138) . And there is not a prison warden in the United States who 
will not concur in the observation of John J. Fallon, of the Black- 
well Island Penitentiary, that " The statement that the lack of a 
trade is a potent and a permanent cause of crime is borne out by all 
close observers of penology." (21) 

Vocational education for juvenile unfortunates. Whatever 
may be the efficacy of specific vocational training as a help in 
the reformation of adult criminals, it is a generally accepted 
belief that vocational training is of value in the care and train- 
ing of juvenile delinquents. Some of the best institutions of 
Am.erica maintained in relation to juvenile delinquency accept 
these cardinal principles: 

1. The treatment of juvenile delinquents should be educa- 
tional rather than punitive. 

2. Physical, economic, and social factors are causative ele- 
ments in delinquency. 

3. Recognition of both the physical and also the psychic 
elements in the causation and in the cure of juvenile faults is 
imperative. 

4. Cottage systems, rather than the "barracks" plan of 
housing, are more conducive to home-like atmosphere and bene- 
ficial personal influences. 

5. A moderately good home is better than a good institution 
for a child. This principle is recognized in the Boston placing- 
out system. 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 111 

6. Useful and interesting occupations may have therapeutic 
and moral values and are therefore essential in the care of juve- 
niles. 

7. In addition to the modicum of general training in elemen- 
tary education juvenile delinquents should be given (a) the 
benefit of a prevocational course intended to help in the choice 
of a definite occupation, to disclose opportunities and to inspire 
to effort; (b) later, definite training for a vocation. 

Typical modem institutions. Typical of such schools are 
the Lyman School for Boys, in Massachusetts, the St. Charles 
School for Boys, in Illinois, The Glen Mills Schools in Pennsyl- 
vania, The Children's Village in New York, and the Whittier 
School in California. In all of these the usefulness of occupa- 
tional training is recognized and provision is made for such 
education in the care of unfortunate youths. (15) 

The Fellenberg movement. The modern tendency to care 
for the education of the unfortunate through industrial training 
has sprung from the philanthropic spirit of Pestalozzi and his 
collaborator Fellenberg. Says Graves, ''The poor, the defec- 
tive, and the delinquent have, through vocational training, been 
redeemed and given a chance in life, and many children have 
been kept in school that would inevitably have fallen by the 
wayside. Public schools, special industrial schools, orphanages, 
institutions for the deaf and blind, reformatories, and even 
prisons have yielded rich harvests because of Pestalozzi's first 
sowing."(13) Phihpp Emanuel von Fellenberg (1771-1844) 
belonged to a wealthy and aristocratic family of Berne, Switzer- 
land. He believed, with Pestalozzi, that immoral and wretched 
economic conditions in Switzerland should be attacked by means 
of education. The ideas of Fellenberg took root in Switzerland, 
Germany, France, and England. 

In the United States the Pestalozzi-Fellenberg system began 
to appear about 1820 to 1850. A large number of institutions 



112 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

sprang up with "manual labor features in addition to literary 
work." The aim set forth was to enable students to earn their 
way, and also to secure beneficial physical exercise. Later, 
Carlisle, Hampton, and Tuskegee, adopted this type of training 
in the effort to solve specific racial questions. At the present 
time scores of institutions for delinquents and defectives embody 
something of the Fellenberg industrial-physical-intellectual 
training, although. Graves remarks, "without much grasp of the 
educational principles involved." In the year 1915 there were 
112 State Industrial Schools reported to the Commissioner of 
Education. These schools are chiefly for boys and girls delin- 
quent, or destitute, or both, committed by action of courts. 
There were also 62 state schools for the blind, 68 for the deaf, 
and 37 for the feeble-minded. It is unfortunate that in the 
minds of some persons the term "industrial education" con- 
notes chiefly education for delinquent or defective individuals. 

Rehabilitation of the Disabled 

Vocational education of industrial victims. The fact that 
even during the World War the annual numbers of industrial 
casualties surpassed the casualties of war is emphasizing the 
problem of the industrial cripple. A large number of accidents 
in industrial life are trivial, but some injuries that heal quickly 
entail ill effects long afterward. The thousands of injured per- 
sons who lack the normal use of skeleton or skeletal muscles 
present serious problems to the economist, the humanitarian, 
and the educator. Employees' compensation laws make possi- 
ble some mitigation of the effects of mutilation. Enforced 
installation of safety devices for factory and railroad prevent 
untold evils. The presentation in Congress of the bill looking 
toward the physical restoration and the vocational reeducation 
of the maimed in industry was a further step. (36) Why not 
lessen dependency, and pauperism, and increase self-respect 
and the joy of living by prolonging the useful activities of 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 113 

persons handicapped in the course of productive work, it was 
argued. 

The survey of cripples made in Cleveland, Ohio, sets an ex- 
ample for communities desiring to understand this problem and 
to install preventive as well as remedial efforts. This report 
shows the surprising energy of many handicapped persons who 
without very special help are succeeding in occupations of wide 
range or variety. The study gives some practical suggestions 
for legislation looking to the protection of the employee and 
the employer. The placement of cripples is becoming more 
difficult because of the employers' liability and workmen's com- 
pensation laws. The Cleveland report also reveals the import- 
ance of prevention of the crippled condition, by attack upon in- 
fantile paralysis and tuberculosis as well as upon industrial 
practices that neglect the safety of the worker. (5) Especially 
instructive in attacking the problems of the industrial cripple 
are our recent experiences with our patriot-victims of war. 

Rehabilitation of disabled soldiers. Potent is the appeal 
to us of the returned disabled soldier. It is a mark of social 
progress of the age that no longer is the world content to reward 
the disabled soldier with a mere pension. Practically all civil- 
ized countries have provided both for the physical reconstruc- 
tion and also for the vocational training and placement of dis- 
abled soldiers. (20) The record of this movement in France, 
Belgium, Great Britain, and Germany is particularly interest- 
ing. In Canada remarkable strides have been made in this work, 
under the administration of the Department of Soldiers' Civil 
Reestahlishment. (26) 

Rehabilitation in the United States. We in the United 
States profited much by the experience of Canada in this un- 
dertaking. Physical reconstruction of the disabled soldier was 
placed under the charge of the military and naval authorities. 
It included medical and surgical care, functional reeducation, 
occupational therapy, etc. Under the Smith-Sears Act of Con- 



114 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

gress vocational training of the formerly disabled soldier who 
elected such training after discharge was made an obligation of 
the Federal Board for Vocational Education. The administration 
of the Smith-Sears Act was an important activity of the Federal 
Board, in addition to its administration of the Smith-Hughes 
Act. (28) 

Social Pedagogy 

Pestalozzi. The faith of Pestalozzi in the power of the 
school to regenerate the individual and society, as set forth in 
the story of Hoiv Gertrude Taught Her Children has not been 
lost, although the years have brought changes in the crude de- 
vices he proposed. Democracy now appears as the hope of the 
world; the rule of kings is in disrepute. We know that Nature 
is not perfect and society can not exist if individuals vegetate 
and develop under Nature's forces, without instincts being 
curbed and directed by reason and ethical codes. Even the 
artificial enviromnent — the industries, and homes, and schools, 
made by man, must be altered to the purposes of altruism and 
ethical idealism. 

Giddings. One of our sociologists, Giddings, expresses this 
conviction; 

Democracy will doubtless govern crudely, and it will make grave 
mistakes, until, in our impatience, we shall cry: Give us back the rule 
of the gifted and the wise! But not by its failures, not by its mistakes 
alone, shall democracy at the last be judged. Nor should it be judged 
only by its power to lift burdens from the oppressed. Whatever their 
composition and whatever the impact of environing forces which they 
must resist, the nations will be free when intellect has mastered pas- 
sion, and men are just at heart. The goal" of mankind is neither a 
leveling of those distinctions that inhere in mind and soul, nor yet the 
exaltation of a ruthless superman; it is the evolution of a superman- 
kind. And this evolution, like all the evolution of the ages through 
which man has groped his way, must proceed through the interaction 
of organism and environment. If, then, the masses of men are to be 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 115 

enlightened and made just, the outward conditions to which their 
Uves will be conformed must themselves embody justice and must 
nobly provoke the mind. To create such conditions is democracy's 
great task. To establish them throughout the earth is the goal of 
social evolution. For it is also genetically, as it is ideally true, that 
righteousness exalteth a nation. (12) 

If the reader now has gained a better perspective regarding the 
significance of the vocational education movement as it is re- 
lated to democracy, to our schools, and to crucial social prob- 
lems, he may be ready to inquire, who is equal to this task? 
Under what definite auspices shall this movement be fostered 
and paid for? In the following chapter we shall endeavor to un- 
fold some of the problems involved in answering this question. 

Summary 

1. Arguments showing the need for vocational education are nu- 

merous and often valid. Reasons why the state must sup- 
port education in general have been formulated in Chap- 
ter I. There are urgent claims for the support of that 
phase of education comprising vocational training lower 
than college grade. It is true that some of the arguments 
adduced by enthusiasts for the support of industrial edu- 
cation would also apply forcibly to other phases of 
education, — e. g., physical, moral. Expectations of social 
benefits to accrue from vocational education of any type 
should be kept rational. 

2. Calm appraisals of schools, curricula, methods, and results 

in various kinds of education are needed. Umnistakable 
benefits will come from vocational education imbued with 
American ideals, but there are dangers to be avoided. 
These dangers are threefold : (a) Acquisition of skill, with- 
out ethical ideals; (b) imitation of foreign systems; (c) 
interference with biological adaptation in the attempt to 
conform without question to the demands of industry. 



116 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

3. Poverty as a rule is not found with knowledge and skill. 

Statistical returns indicate that in the long run monetary 
rewards follow the individual who has special education 
for his vocation. However, ''the broadening and uplift- 
ing of human life, the help toward attaiimient by the in- 
dividual of an ultimate aim embracing health, independ- 
ence, morality, righteousness, happiness, and altruism" — 
these are definite rewards of vocational education meas- 
ured neither by money nor by chronoscopes. 

4. Adult illiteracy is a menace to our democracy and espe- 

cially in states where the rate of decrease is low. In the 
establishment of schools for training in special skills, the 
need of elementary education must not be overlooked, 
since democracy is to be preserved by an intelligent citi- 
zenship. 

5. Ignorance and superstition are associated with crime and 

evil. Health and well-being are coupled with knowledge 
and morality. Whatever may be the true statistical facts 
about the relation of crime and education, we rely strongly 
upon knowledge dominated by right ideals in the fight 
against evil. Crime is a variety of evil in many aspects. 
Prevention is a better policy than cure. In the correction 
of juvenile delinquents forms of industrial training have 
long been in use. The work of Fellenberg is still worthy 
of study. If the economic and social benefits desired from 
vocational education accrue to the masses, numerous in- 
centives and conditions of crime will disappear. 

6. The rehabilitation of the disabled, whether by accident in 

industry or by warfare, is a work of economic and humani- 
tarian significance. The vocational reeducation of dis- 
abled soldiers and sailors as undertaken to-day is a unique 
advance upon the treatment of veterans in former times. 
Pensions have been found inadequate protection from 
exploitation and insufficient rewards for heroes. Lessons 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 117 

learned in the rehabilitation of returned soldiers in the 
future will be of value in the rehabihtation of the dis- 
abled in industry whose annual number at present is 
legion, — far greater than the number of our men wounded 
in war. The centuries-long faith that the regulation of 
society must come in large measure through the instru- 
mentality of the schools has not been lost. The great work 
of reconstruction after the World War for Democracy, 
will rest ultimately upon the schools which must train 
citizens, mothers, and efficient workers. 

Problems 

1. To what extent do the arguments of the Federal Commis- 

sion on Vocational Education (pages 96 to 101) over- 
lap? Evaluate each argument as applicable to your 
community. 

2. Indicate points of educational hygiene important in secur- 

ing better biological adaptation in your school. [See 
Dresslar, 8, Terman, 32, etc.] 

3. Point out necessary changes in some local industrial plants 

if better biological adaptation of workers is to be secured. 
(Consider hours, processes, wages, dust, fumes, tempera- 
tures, ventilation, uses of spare time by workers.) 

4. Weigh the strong and the weak points of EUis' study of the 

money value of education. (9) 

5. Ascertain definitely what your community and state is 

doing to lessen any adult illiteracy. 

6. Make a report of a personal inspection and study of the 

uses of occupation in the care of the inmates of a public 
institution for delinquent, or for destitute children and 
youths. 

7. Endeavor to trace any demonstrable relation between the 

status of poverty and of public education in your own 
community. To what extent might specialized vocational 



118 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

education for trades, for agriculture, or for home making, 
improve conditions? 

8, After reading Ciiamberlain's views on education and crime, 

what opinion do you formulate concerning the relations 
of (a) general and (b) specialized industrial education to 
crime in your own city or state? (3) 

9. Trace any effect of the work of (a) Pestalozzi, (b) Froebel, 

and (c) Fellenberg upon secondary vocational education 
in this country. 

10. To what extent and how shall training be given for highly 

specialized industrial occupations and other related call- 
ings, in industries where unskilled or specialized service is 
in large demand? In manufacture of cotton and woolen 
cloth, occupations number about 100; in shoemaking, 
several hundred. Similar tendencies toward "unskilled" 
service are noted in food-packing, tobacco, steel, print- 
ing, lumber industries, etc. Shall the public schools coop- 
erate with employers in the supplying of such workers? 

11. Draw up a working plan by which vocational homemaking 

courses can cooperate with homes of pupils and utilize the 
equipment and facilities of the home for training purposes. 

12. Indicate types of homemaking courses suitable at different 

ages, e. g., for girls who will be wage earners when 14 to 25 
years of age; for girls who will remain at home; for girls 
in industry. 

13. Show how far the requirements of vocational agricultural 

education of social value are defined by the actual con- 
ditions of successful farming. 

14. Distinguish between the meanings of these terms: functional 

reeducation, occupational therapy, vocational education. 
(See References 20 and 34, below.) 

15. State the arguments in each case, why the state should 

rehabilitate (a) the disabled soldier, (b) the disabled 
victim of industry. 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 119 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Bawden, W. T. Vocational education, in U. S. Education Report, 

vol. II, ch. IX, 1916, p. 144-148. Conservative objections examined. 

2. Carry On. Bulletin published by the Surgeon General's Office, Wash- 

ington, D. C, 1918. Devoted to physical reconstruction of disabled 
soldiers and sailors. 

3. Chamberlain, Alexander. Education and Crime, in Monroe's Cycl. of 

Education, vol. II, pp. 410-413. 

4. Child Labor, List of References. U. S. Department of Labor, Chil- 

dren's Bureau, Publication 18, 1916, 161 p. 

5. Cripples. The Cleveland Survey of Education and Occupations of 

all Cripples Juvenile and Adult. Contains valuable data concerning 
4,186 persons handicapped by defects of skeleton or skeletal muscles. 

6. Dangers to Workers from Dusts and Fumes and Methods of Protec- 

tion. Bulletin 127 of U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

7. Disabled Soldier and Sailor in the Hospital, To the. Monograph 1, 

November, 1918. Federal Board for Vocational Education. Wash- 
ington, D. C, 1918. 

8. Dresslar, F. B. School Hygiene. N. Y., 1913, 369 p. 

9. Ellis, A. C. Money Value of Education. U. S. Education Bulletin 

22, 1917. Valuable summary of investigations, with abundant 
, charts, etc. See also No. 35. 

10. Ellis, Havelock. The Criminal. N. Y., 1913 (new ed.), 440 p. 

11. Federal Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education. In 

two volumes. House Document 1004, 1914, vol. I, pp. 16-39. 

12. Giddings, F. H. Sociology. Columbia University Lectures, N. Y., 

1909, pp. 5-43. 

13. Graves, Frank P. A History of Education in Modern Times. See pp. 

20, 154 et seq. for Fellenberg Movement. 

14. Hall, G. Stanley, (a) Adolescence, 2 vols. N. Y., 1907. The only 

work covering all phases of adolescence. 

(6) Educational Problems, 2 vols. N. Y., 1911. See Ch. VIII, 
vol. I, for extensive study of industrial education. 

15. Hill, David S. Experimental Study of Delinquent and Destitute Boys 

in New Orleans and Notes Concerning Preventive and Ameliorative 
Measures in the United States. The Commission Council, New 
Orleans, La., 1914, 130 p. 111. 

16. Industrial Accidents, Bulletin 157, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

17. Journal of Delinquency. Devoted to the scientific study of problems 

related to social conduct. Published bi-monthly bj^ the Whittier 



120 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

State School, Whittier, California. J. H. Williams, Managing 
Editor, 1916. 

18. Leake, Albert H. Industrial Education, Its Problems, Methods, 

Dangers. N. Y., 1913, 205 p. 

19. MacDonald, Arthur. Abnormal Man. Essays on education and 

crime and related subjects with digests of literature and a bibliog- 
raphy. The references comprise a classified list of some 5000 titles. 
United States Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C, 1S93, 445 p. 

20. McMurtrie, Douglas C. The Evolution of National Systems of Vo- 

cational Reeducation for Disabled Soldiers and Sailors. An ex- 
haustive review to date of the principles of rehabilitation, and of 
practice in France, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, Germany, Austria 
Hungary, Canada, and other British Dominions, with bibliography 
of 52 pages. Federal Board for Vocational Education, Washington, 
D. C, May, 1918, 319 p. 111. 

21. Mosby, T. S. Causes and Cures of Crime. St. Louis, 1913, pp. 134- 

140. 

22. Oliver, Sir Thomas. Occupations, from the Social Hygienic and Medical 
Points of View. Cambridge, 1916, 110 p. Of interest to students of 

social problems and to advocates of industrial legislation. 

23. Poverty. Robert Hunter. N. Y., 1905, 3S2 p. 

24. Railey, Mary L. A Practical Study of Elimination. N. O. Board 

• of School Directors, 1916. 124 pp. 111. An extensive sociological 
and statistical study of elimination based on first-hand data from a 
city school system. 

25. Recalled to Life. A journal devoted to the care, reeducation, and return 

to civil life of disabled sailors and soldiers. Lord Charnwood, Editor. 
London, 1917-1918. 

26. Reconstruction. Bulletin published during 1918 by the Invahded 

Soldiers Commission, Department of Soldiers Civil Reestablish- 
ment. Ottawa, Canada. 

27. Ross, E. A. (o) Foundations of Sociology. N. Y., 1910, 410 p. (6) So- 

cial Psychology, N. Y., 1912, 372 p. 

28. Smith-Sears Act of Congress, Senate Bill S. 4557, approved June 27, 

1918. An act to provide for vocational rehabilitation and return 
to civil employment of disabled persons discharged from the military 
or naval forces of the United States and for other purposes. 

29. Snedden, David. Educational Sociology. Parts I and II. Digest 

and syllabus. N. Y., 1917. 

30. Spargo, John. The Bitter Cry of the Children. N. Y., 1906, 337 p., 

pp. 1-6. 



SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 121 

31. Talbot, Winthrop. Adult Illiteracy. U. S. Education Bulletin 35, 

1916, 91 p. 

32. Tennan, L. H. The Hygiene of the School Child. N. Y., 1914, 417 p. 

33. United States Education Report, 1916, vol. II, pp. 600-659. Data 

from schools for exceptional children. 

34. Vocational Rehabilitation of Disabled Soldiers and Sailors. Senate 

Document 166, 1918, 112 p. 

35. Value of Education, References on Economic Value of. U. S. Bureau of 

Education Leaflet 4, April, 1919, 7 p. See also No. 9. 

36. Vocational Rehabilitation of Persons Disabled in Industry or Other- 

wise and Their Return to Civil Employment. Bill (H. R. 12880) 
introduced by Mr. Bankhead in the House of Representatives and 
referred to the Committee on Education, September 4, 1918. 

37. Vocational Summary. Published by the Federal Board for Vocational 

Education. Washington, D. C, 1918. 

38. War Risk Insurance Act. An act to authorize the establishment of a 

Bureau of War Risk Insurance in the Treasury Department. With 
amendments prior to July 1, 1918. Publication of Bureau of War 
Risk Insurance. Washington, D. C, 1918. 

39. Workmen's Compensation Laws of the United States and Foreign 

Countries. U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 126. Com- 
pensation for Accidents to Employees of the United States, ibid., 
Bulletin 155. 



CHAPTER V 
THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

The Factors in Education: The question of responsibiUty; environment 
and occupation; share of the family. 

Ancient and Modern Craftsmanship: Apprenticeship and gilds; the loss 
of precious arts; economic changes vs. apprenticeship. 

Contemporary Education in Relation to the Population: Provisions for 
occupational training; the masses unskilled; bookish tendencies. 

What Schools Should Teach Vocations: Vocational courses in pubUc 
schools; public sentiment; vocational education and philanthropy; cor- 
poration and union schools. 

Federal Policy toward Education: Slow development; some legislative 
history; veto of Buchanan; the Morrill Act; Jonathan B. Turner; signif- 
icance of the Morrill Act; federal acts summarized; concerning cooperation. 

Federal Expenditures for Education: Income of agricultural and me- 
chanical colleges; total of federal grants before the World War; other 
federal appropriations for education; federal support of vocational educa- 
tion a fact. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

The Factors in Education 

The question of responsibility. We have restated in Chap- 
ter I the general reasons why democracy must support uni- 
versal education, and also have presented in Chapter IV the 
arguments of the Federal Commission concerning the needs for 
vocational education lower than college grade. We are partic- 
ularly concerned with the practical question : Are the responsi- 
bilities for establishing and for maintaining occupational train- 
ing for the masses a direct obligation of the Federal Government, 
the States, and the Municipalities, or does the obligation rest 
upon the individual, or upon private, or social agencies? 

122 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 123 

It will furnish a background for a presentation of this problem 
to recall factors other than the state that from the beginning 
have contributed to vocational education. For this purpose 
we shall refer briefly to the influences of physical enviromnent 
or nature, of the tribe and family, of the apprentice and gild 
systems, of the later operations of corporations, unions, individ- 
uals, or companies; also to the philanthropic institutions, and 
finally to the participation of the government in its various 
divisions — federal, state, and municipal. Other related factors 
also invite our attention — for example, the influences of the 
church, the theater, the press, etc., active as educational forces, 
but consideration of which we must omit. 

Environment and occupation. Spurs to greater human skill 
and knowledge in order to supply the necessities of life are not 
all of recent appearance. Industry and invention have always 
been stimulated by the needs of nourishment, shelter, clothing, 
habitation, rest, and locomotion, and by pleasure, and curios- 
ity. Rewards of skill and invention were in force long be- 
fore the appearance of the United States Patent Office. Mason 
remarks that in early days a "man seized his own patent." His 
better spear, bow and arrow, or more ingenious fishing device, 
or weapon, procured him more food and made him stronger, 
gave him quicker perceptions, and greater dexterity of execu- 
tion, taught him the superiority of mind over brute force, van- 
quished beasts and human enemies, and perhaps secured for him 
respect, obedience, a following, and fear, until grown stronger, 
the skilled and wise made dangerous any infringement upon his 
"patent" or monopoly. Encouragement and support came 
early to the ingenious and the strong, — to the best bow-makers, 
arrow-makers, basket-weavers, potters, hunters, and fighters. 
In primitive times as well as now "the great procession of hu- 
manity drags along, too much encumbered with many cares to 
acquire excellence in any one occupation." (14) (17) 

All of modern industry goes back in origin to man's inevitable 



124 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

reactions to his environment, the diversity of which makes 
possible his industrial activities in their wide range from primi- 
tive occupations to present-day organized and specialized effort. 
Mason classifies into six divisions the occupational activities of 
man as they have in all ages been influenced by environment: 
(1) Changing or consuming the gifts of Nature, as in the worker 
or gleaner, hunter, fisher; (2) changing the form of natural ob- 
jects, as in manufacture and mechanical arts; (3) changing the 
place or position of himself, or objects, hence the traveler, the 
carrier, transportation; (4) accounting for and explaining things, 
hence the weigher, and the explorer; (5) exchanging things or 
the fruits of labor — as in buying and selling, commerce; (6) arts 
of enjoyment, as in uses of food, houses, adormnent, equipage, 
utensils. Environment supplies raw materials and force. Some 
ethnologists, as well as some poets, point to environment, or 
Nature, as also our first great instructor teaching us through 
imitation, or by painful trial and error. "There were hammers, 
gimlets, pins, needles, saws, baskets, and sandpaper at hand 
when the human artisan first became an apprentice," says Ma- 
son. MoUusks produced dishes, spiders and caterpillars drew 
out fine threads, birds wove nests, beavers conquered floods, 
and even plants and trees have formed vessels and fabricated 
cloth. In turn, environment itself has been teachable, or re- 
sponsive, for, through training, grasses have become grain, wild 
flowers the exquisite produce of florists, and deserts have been 
made to blossom. Furthermore, the duel between Nature and 
Man has been a factor in the survival and development of skill, 
knowledge, and courage. The conquests of the sea, of fire, of 
electricity, of poisons, of disease, are instances. The savage man 
overcame intractable material, and the scientist constantly im- 
proves his apparatus. (14) 

Referring to sociologists who stress too strongly the notion 
that the human race has borrowed all of its plans and methods 
from Nature, the same ethnologist reminds us, "one is apt to 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 125 

forget that the best of instruction has no effect on dull pupils, 
as every pedagogue will testify. The forms and movements of 
all things terrestrial were lying before the senses of animated 
nature for milleniums before our race arrived. How few of them 
aroused the apperception of the brute, and stimulated him to 
those never-ceasing changes which constitute the life of prog- 
ress. The profound teaching of Nature fell upon those who 
having ears, heard not." 

Necessity and the desire of progress early effected a tendency 
to organize and support instruction for occupation. This tend- 
ency was observed, first, in family and tribal life. For example 
here is an illustration of the education of a Yucatan Indian 
attributed to Morelet: 

When he is ten or twelve years of age, a machete is given him and a 
load, proportioned to his years, is placed upon him, and he is made to 
accompany his father in his excursions or his labours. He is taught to 
find his way in the most obscure forests through means of the faintest 
indications. His ear is practiced in quickly detecting the approach 
of wild animals, and his eye in discovering the venomous reptiles that 
may lie in his path. He is taught to distinguish the vines, the juices 
of which have the power of stupefying fishes so that they may be caught 
by hand, as also those that are useful for their flexibility or for furnish- 
ing water to the wayfarer. He soon comes to recognise the Leche 
Maria, the precious balm with which he can heal his wounds, and the 
guaco, which neutralises the venom of serpents. He finds out the shady 
dells where the cacao flourishes, and the sunny eminences where the 
bees deposit their honey. He learns or is taught all these things early, 
and then his education is complete. (17) 

Share of the family. A historical sketch of the relations of 
the human family to education would show that it not only pre- 
pares a child for the school but it also operates powerfully along 
with the school. 

Reigart has summed up some interesting illustrative facts in this 
connection: First by imitation and later by participation the child and 



126 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

youth of primitive society learned the occupations of elders. Hunting, 
shooting, fishing, fighting, customs of the tribe, and ceremonials, the 
boy learned from his father and grandfather, while the elements of 
agriculture, of many industrial arts, and of household economy were 
transmitted to the girl by mother and grandmother. Dynamic was 
the share of woman in the development of primitive industries and of 
culture, which in manifold form we have inherited and amazingly de- 
veloped. Opposed to Plato's theory of the communistic nurture of 
children, the early periods of Chinese, Roman, and Hebrew history ex- 
hibit family education as dominant. Marcus Aurehus, the Emperor, 
"thanked the gods that he had the satisfaction of his mother's life 
and company a considerable while, though she was destined to die 
young." Comenius, to whom some trace modern school grading, called 
the first six years "the mother's school." Rousseau's "real nurse" 
is the mother, the "real preceptor" the father. Pestalozzi in Ger- 
trude and Leonard pictures the true teacher as the mother. Educa- 
tional writers, as a rule, are a unit in magnifying the family and home 
as a factor in education, and it is an error to assume that the educa- 
tion by the family and home was suited peculiarly to primitive man 
but is utterly inadequate to-day. Whether the reader of these lines 
has been reared upon a farm or in the city, in the plain home of a wage- 
earner or in a sumptuous apartment, let him make an inventory of the 
useful and good things he or she learned from mother and father. Un- 
less the reader has been a victim of exceptionally unfortunate parentage, 
doubtless surprise will develop from the extensive inventory of funda- 
mental things, things of occupational value, learned at home, even 
under modern conditions. 

The conception of state support and control of education we have 
grown to accept as an outgrowth of the Reformation and of reaction 
against corrupt ecclesiasticism. This necessary step, together with 
the unfavorable influences of factory, tenement, apartment house, 
and hotel life, as they afifect the home, is threatening to throw the whole 
burden of education upon the public school. (24) 

No well-devised system of schools or courses, be they gen- 
eral, liberal, or vocational in aim, ignores the function of the 
normal home, nor does it attempt to supplant the home. Good 



THE A'USPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 127 

reasons have been brought forward to support the doctrine that 
the home must actively participate in pubUc education— a 
participation to be more vital than the mere "hearing of les- 
sons" or infliction of punishment or reward for the quality of 
school work accomplished. Here are reasons underlying this 
obligation of the home, given by Reigart and others: 

(1) The history of the race indicates that the family and home have 
furnished the essentials of occupational education, or at least the neces- 
sary attitudes and aspirations for liberalizing achievements. 

(2) The school, however good, can not well overcome serious neg- 
lect in the home, and can not be a full substitute for the home. 

(3) Continuity of social influence and of persons, as in the family, 
is lacking in the school, where the pupil passes from group to group 
and from teacher to teacher. 

(4) Group attainment of persons of the same type or class, is a 
virtue in the school, whereas in the home persons of different ages and 
in different t5^es of labor, work in cooperation, discharging various 
responsibilities, and thus develop individuality and self-reliance, (ibid) 

(5) When we are puzzled about how to prevent divorcement of 
ethical idealism and specialized vocational training, we find that one 
antidote to any ill effects of exclusive attendance upon vocational 
classes where only skill and specialized knowledge are taught to youths 
and adults, can be found in a good American home, with its healthful 
Uving conditions, potent influences of personal affection, its atmosphere 
of goodness and sturdy patriotism. Plans for multiplication of special- 
ized vocational courses, need to be drawn in the light of requirements 
and promotion of wholesome Hving in homes full of "old-fashioned" 
American spirit. 

Ancient and Modern Craftsmanship 

Apprenticeship and gilds. Under ancient apprenticeship at 
its best, the apprentice was indentured by written articles of 
agreement. The master was obligated to house, feed, and clothe 
the apprentice, as well as to teach him. He was also required 
to give the youth moral and religious training suitable to a boy 



128 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of immature years — i. e., he was to prepare a good craftsman 
and a good citizen. "Not rarely the apprentice led his master's 
daughter a bride to the altar, so personal was the relation of 
employer and employee." Scott in his historical essays declares : 

The apprenticeship system, as it existed in medieval times, offered 
opportunity to the youth of learning all branches of his trade. The 
shop was small; master and apprentice often worked side by side at 
the same bench. The master himself worked at all processes of his 
handicraft, and therefore it Avas comparatively easy for him to teach 
all processes to the lad at his side. It was comparatively easy, too, for 
the lad to follow all the workings of his master and to imitate them. 
The number of apprentices being small the master could give each one 
a large part of his attention. Furthemiore, as there were but few ap- 
prentices and journeymen, there was but little division of labor, and 
therefore but little of the modern tendency to keep a boy employed on 
one or two processes to the exclusion of all others. It was to the in- 
terest of the master that the apprentice be able to assist him at every 
process of the craft. To the master, too, accrued the profits of the 
apprentice's toil during the latter's term of service, and the more skill- 
ful the boy, the greater the gains of his employer. 

In the same way the apprenticesliip system favored the development 
of artistic ability. The long term of service, usually seven years in 
England, somewhat less on the Continent, gave opportunity for the 
acquirement of that refinement of skill so necessary to the true artist. 
The careful, individual attention given by the right sort of master 
to the apprentice enabled the latter to avoid superficiality, while 
his own work furnished a worthy example for the lad's imitative 
powers. . . . 

The efficiency of the apprenticeship system was guarded by gild 
supervision. It may be objected that I have praised the medieval 
system too highly. It may be pointed out that masters sometimes ill- 
treated their apprentices, neglected them, and failed to instruct them 
properly, and that apprentices were sometimes idle, thievish, and faith- 
less. All this is true, even of the medieval system, though most of the 
examples of such bad conduct come from the seventeenth and eigh- 
teenth centuries. In medieval times the danger of such bad conse- 



THE AUSiflCES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 129 

quences was lessened by the fact that both master and apprentice, 
were responsible to the gild. The gilds passed many ordinances to 
regulate their conduct, and these ordinances were enforced in the gild 
courts. Such supervision over conduct was far more effective when 
the towns were small and the actions of the gild members open to close 
scrutiny than when the towns had grown to cities and less was known 
of the private life of the gild members and their workmen. 

The supervision of the gild was not confined to observation and con- 
trol of conduct, but was extended to the actual work of instruction as 
well. Sometimes the gilds specified what the master should teach. (26) 

It has been suggested that the world's golden age of artisan- 
ship is represented by the medieval gilds at their best, and that 
therefore these gilds might be studied profitably by industrial 
leaders, somewhat as literary men of to-day study the cycles 
of Homer, the Arthurian romances, etc. In London during the 
year 1422 there were listed more than 100 of these gilds- — in- 
cluding gilds of judges, doctors, bankers, tailors, spinners, 
bookbinders, builders, weavers, upholsterers, poulterers, hatters, 
dyers, armorers, vintners, pewterers, ropers, tapestrers, haber- 
dashers, fishmongers, and venders of cheese, corn, wood, wine, 
oil, soap; makers and sellers of goods in silk, wool, skin; also 
net makers, glovers, merchant tailors, etc. (11) 

Distance in time adds illusion when we contemplate the 
achievements and the spirit of the gilds. Poverty, disease, 
child and woman labor, as well as parasitic luxury in degrees 
not ascertainable by us, existed along with gild systems. They 
who crave a revival of the spirit of the medieval gilds, e. g., as 
attempted in the modern arts and crafts movement, point 
mainly to the excellencies of the gild system now absent under 
our system of specialization and machine work. The gilds 
tended to make an aristocracy of expert workmanship, helped 
to foster pride in the quality of products, to label inferior work 
as disloyalty and to crown virtuosity in skilled workmanship. 

The loss of precious arts. There are many legends about 



130 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

marvelous "lost arts" which man is alleged to have known be- 
fore the days of steam and gas and electric engines. President 
Hall, in a condensation of various materials, cites the old asser- 
tions that in art the really great masters are all dead and that 
no modern compares with Homer, Phidias, Raphael, and Shake- 
speare; that in all nations there are only about 250 to 300 dis- 
tinct stories, and that even some well-known jokes are traceable 
back for centuries. We are told, says President Hall, such 
things as these: 

That in Pompeii we find ground, colored, and common window glass; 
that the Chinese had a colorless glass which, when filled with a color- 
less fluid, seemed to be full of fish; that a Roman in the day of St. 
Paul had a glass cup which, when dashed to the pavement and dented, 
could be hammered into shape; that besides this malleable glass there 
was another specimen which, hung up by one end, would dwindle to a 
thread and become as flexible as wool; in Rome they made a solid bit of 
glass in the center of which was a colored drop which must have been 
poured into it, which was as large as a pea, finely mottled with shifting 
hues; the case of Genoa was a solid emerald, said to have been the 
Queen of Sheba's gift to Solomon and used by our Savior at the Last 
Supper, and which Napoleon brought to France; Cicero said he saw 
the entire Iliad written on a skin rolled to the compass of a nut shell; 
could this have been photography? Nero had a ring with a gem which 
he used as an opera glass; Bunsen tells of a signet ring from Cheops so 
finely engraved that the inscription is invisible except with a strong 
glass; Phillips knew a man who had a ring with a stone three-fourths 
of an inch in diameter with the naked figure of Hercules, in which with 
glasses you could tell every muscle and count the hairs on the eyebrows, 
which must have been made with a magnifying glass; the old Tyrian 
colors are so permanent that they flame up now when unearthed; a 
Cashmere shawl worth $30,000 is described, with 300 distinct hues 
and colors which the best dyers in Europe can hardly distinguish. 
When the English plundered the Summer Palace of the Emperor of 
China, they found wrought metal vases of many kinds far beyond 
European skill; the Damascus blades of the Crusaders, though not 
gilded, are as bright as they were eight centuries ago; there was one at 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 131 

the London exhibition, "the point of which could be made to touch 
the hilt" and which could be put into its scabbard like a corkscrew; 
the London watchmakers found the best steel, not in Sheffield, but in 
the Punjab; the first needle made in England was by a negro in the 
time of Henry VIII, and when he died his art died with him; the first 
African travelers found a tribe in the interior who gave them better 
razors than they knew. Walter Scott described Richard Cceur de 
Lion as severing a bar of iron, whereupon Saladin took an eiderdown 
pillow and cut it in two with his sword, and then threw up the lightest 
scarf in the air and severed it before it descended; a Hindoo in Cal- 
cutta threw a handful of floss sillc into the air and cut it in several pieces 
before it touched the ground; it was thought a triumph in the sixteenth 
century to have set up the obelisk in Rome on one end, yet the Egyp- 
tians quarried it and carried it 150 miles; the capital of Pompey's pillar 
is 100 feet high and weighs 2,000 pounds. Arago thinks that the rail- 
road dates back to Egj^pt, and that the Egyptians knew steam; the 
Duchess of Burgundy took a necklace from a mummy and wore it 
to a ball in the Tuileries and everyone marveled. 

The true craftsman should always have in mind the praise and blame 
not of the masses but of the master. This ought not to be hard when 
one is young and able to see the good in everything. Plant forms, 
wings of birds, butterflies, and hedgerows can be sources of suggestive 
inspiration and motives of design. Craftsmen must fight against 
dreary monotony in both conception and execution. (11) 

It is problematic whether many valuable "lost arts" have 
ever been lost beyond the sagacity of man, since the vanishing 
of prehistoric peoples. The reasons why arts are lost are that 
"they either become antiquated by others higher in the scale, 
or because they were practised by a limited number whose 
secret died with them. " Neither is the charge that the intro- 
duction of machinery has not lessened human toil and pain 
altogether convincing when we contrast the uses of train and 
ox-cart, steamship and galley, sewing machine and needle, 
steam thresher and flail, gasoline tractor and crude plow, 
strong-arm surgery and anesthesia. True it is, unsanitary shops 



132 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

reeking with bad air and filth, long hours, unpleasant super- 
vision, monotony, speeding-up schemes, the turning of men and 
women, boys and girls, into automata or slaves of machines at 
starvation wages — that all these possible evils of our modern 
factory system are not infrequent concomitants of the use of 
machinery instead of craftsmanship. 

Snedden points out that while mass production, and attendant 
specialization is, or appears to be, attended by social evils, 
nevertheless the way is not backward towards the old order, but 
forward towards the correction of evils found. Long hours 
of labor, unhygienic surroundings, premature employment of 
youths, physical or nervous deformation due to excessively nar- 
row routine — none of these represent inherent shortcomings, and 
all are readily subject to correction^far more so, indeed, in 
many cases than the economic ills resident in individualistic 
handicraft production as still found in China, Turkey, Russia, 
and other economically backward countries. (28) 

Econoniic changes vs. apprenticeship. Some of the causes 
of the loss of craftsmanship with its many excellent moral and 
physical accompaniments are these: (a) SpeciaUzation and 
standardization in the manufacture of products now necessary 
to meet consumer's demands and competition have made im- 
perative a concentrated attention to single processes and parts, 
e. g., in the manufacturing processes for automobile parts, dy- 
namos, engines, furniture, cooperage, shoes, clothing, watches, 
food products, (b) Child and woman labor has been exploited 
by unscrupulous manufacturers, especially where there is de- 
manded not craftsmanship and intelligence, but merely an 
automatized tending of machines, e. g., in cotton mills, can, 
cigarette, paper-box, clothing, and shoe factories, (c) Decay of 
apprenticeship has increased the drifting aimlessness of youth. 
Often the "apprentice" is not taught — he is only a helper, or a 
menial on low wages. Stupid monotony repels a youth, and he 
drifts from job to job. 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 133 

Enthusiasts who have contemplated the excellencies of the 
apprentice and gild systems have advocated and hoped for a 
restoration of these systems as a solution of the problems of in- 
dustrial education. Certain apprenticeship agreements may 
yet be found and there are cooperative agreements, as in Minne- 
apoHs and Chicago, for the part-time education of apprentices. 
We can not ignore, however, the still existing factors which were 
instrumental in breaking down apprenticeship : namely, factory 
systems; social gulfs between employer and employees, or at 
least impossibility of an employer coming into personal contact 
with large masses of employees; antagonisms that arise between 
capitalistic and employed groups; the impracticability of teach- 
ing some processes except in plants utilizing these processes. 
The apprenticeship and gild system is a thing of the past, and in 
its surviving forms is inadequate to meet the demand of present 
day occupations, from the standpoint of either the youth or the 
employer. 

In Canada as well as in the United States, the decay of the 
apprenticeship system is observed, and the general testimony is 
to the effect that systematic industrial and technical education 
of hand workers and of foremen, exists in comparatively few 
places. The Royal Commission reported as follows in the year 
1913: 

The system of training young men and women as apprentices, is 
becoming less common than formerly. In some trades it has disap- 
peared as a system and learners are expected and required to pick up 
the trade as best they can. The introduction and use of machinery 
where hand labor was formerly employed is given as one of the chief 
causes for the change. In a few shops, notably the shops of the rail- 
way companies, instruction classes and systematic instruction in the 
shops and at machines have been provided to meet the new con- 
ditions. 

The rapid development of the country and the growth of towns and 
cities, have provided the lure of relatively high wages for boys and girls 



134 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of fourteen years and younger. That attracts them to leave school early. 
Frequently such young people accept places and begin work for which 
little training is required and in which experience does not lead to the 
acquisition of ability or skill in a trade or occupation which affords 
permanent employment or is suitable for mature years. Many wit- 
nesses were of the opinion that at least part of a remedy would come 
through schools or courses of study which provided more hand work 
of a constructive kind. 

A great deal of testimony was received indicating that properly 
organized hand-and-eye-training with constructive work, was helpful 
in developing the powers of children from the kindergarten classes 
upwards. The teachers who had experience spoke highly of its value 
in qualifying the children to take up bench and table work in Manual 
Training and Domestic Science in later years; they also testified that 
the hand work contributed to the progress of the pupils in what were 
called book studies. 

Those opinions found confirmation in the practice of schools ob- 
served in other countries, notably Munich in Germany, Edinburgh in 
Scotland, Leeds in England, and Rochester in the State of New York. 
(25) 

Contemporary Education in Relation to the Population 

Provisions for occupational training. Since the passing of 
apprenticeship and of the gilds, what provisions are there for 
the occupational training of the ninety-nine per cent of the 
population who do not pass through the courses of collegiate or 
professional schools? How shall vocational education lower 
than college be supported, in behalf of the prospective and pres- 
ent workers in mechanical and manufacturing industries; in 
agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry; in transportation; 
in trade and commerce; in home-making; in domestic and per- 
sonal service? 

Two sets of general facts appear preliminary to further dis- 
cussion of this subject: (1) The general nature of occupational 
activities as they are distributed among the population; (2) the 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 135 

subjects actually being taken as a rule by high school pupils in 
America. 

1. The first set of facts is obtainable in detail from the U. S. 
Census (Vol. IV, 1910, pages 18-27), and is set forth in Table II, 
page 69 and Figures I and II, pages 72 and 73, of this book. 
The (a) overwhelming predominance of occupations other than 
professional and clerical is evident; evident also are (b) marked 
variations in different geographical areas, (c) different occupa- 
tional tendencies in the sexes, (d) changes in occupational dis- 
tributions during the past thirty years. 

With these general occupational distributions in mind we 
may again weigh the obstinate facts that less than one half of 
one per cent of the population are enrolled in our colleges, uni- 
versities, and professional schools combined; that in all high or 
secondary schools there are enrolled 1.6 per cent of the popula- 
tion; in all elementary schools, about 20 per cent of the popula- 
tion. Or stating it in another way: During the year 1915, of 
the total school enrollment of the country, 91.3 per cent were in 
the elementary schools, 7.1 per cent in the high schools, and 1.8 
per cent in the higher institutions. Of each 100 children who 
entered the elementary grades in 1906-1907 about 12 graduated 
from high school in 1918. 

The masses unskilled. A distinction should be drawn be- 
tween the evaluation of general elementary education as being 
(a) fundamental to all occupations, and (b) sufficient for all occupa- 
tions. It is agreed that general elementary education is desir- 
able for all occupations; it is inadequate preparation for scores 
of occupations. 

Unless we regard the education of the elementary schools 
and of the first years of the high school as distinctly vocational 
in result, it is evident that the majority of pupils who enter 
public schools obtain therein no specialized vocational training 
whatever, while the less than the one half of one per cent of our 
population within colleges, universities, and professional schools 



136 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

may enjoy abundant and publicly supported facilities for oc- 
cupational or professional training in addition to the prelimi- 
nary, general training they have already received in elementary 
and in high schools. 

It is lamentable that more students are not enrolled in our 
colleges and universities, the capacity of which for producing 
leaders has been demonstrated in abundant measure. Doubtless 
moral suasion might lead greater numbers of boys and girls to 
persist in schools until a college training is achieved. It is 
known, however, that economic conditions prevent numbers 
from continuing, — and whatever may be the causes of relatively 
diminutive enrolhnent in higher institutions, we confront a 
serious fact. The picture we have drawn is of an undemocratic 
condition not to be rectified by lessened support of our higher 
institutions, but rather by thoroughly reorganizing our lower 
and secondary schools, and by keeping youth in school until at 
least sixteen years of age. The high schools are popularly re- 
ferred to as the colleges of the people. The movement toward 
the junior high school and the senior high school, together 
with plans for reorganization of practically every phase of sec- 
ondary education, it is to be hoped will result eventually in de- 
sirable changes. 

2. The second set of facts referred to above, is obtainable 
from the U. S. Education Report for 1917, Vol. II, page 12. 
We reproduce on page 137 a table which as an exhibit of general 
tendency merits study. Observers of the movement for second- 
ary education must applaud the progress made during the past 
ten years in the multiplication of excellent high schools and reor- 
ganizations with the aim of socializing the high school. The 
following table, however, shows what have been the prevailing 
general tendencies in the high schools throughout the country. 
The table should not be interpreted rashly, because (a) it rep- 
resents only mass figures, for the period ended in 1915; (b) the 
percentages for 1915 and for preceding years are calculated 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



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138 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

upon different bases; and (c) one cause of the conditions shown 
is that scientific subjects are often placed by school authorities 
in the upper years of the high school or in classes before attain- 
ing which thousands of pupils are eliminated. These statistics 
suggest that the trend of the high schools during the past twenty- 
five years has been academic as a rule, and that they have been 
suited especially to the needs of prospective teachers of bookish 
subjects and to academic students. Even science, — physics, 
physiology, geology, astronomy, and manual training, — and 
also agriculture and industrial training, have had relatively un- 
important places. The science courses are taken by relatively 
small numbers. In publicly supported high schools of the dates 
indicated, overwhelmingly more students took rhetoric, algebra, 
Latin, English literature, and history than any other subjects. 
The numbers taking physics, chemistry, physiology, astronomy, 
are far less, and the relative percentages are lower than those 
of twenty years ago, a time of reputedly less science than to-day. 
The percentages for commercial and industrial subjects are 
small. 

Bookish tendencies. In different localities the numbers of 
students taking different studies will of course vary from these 
central tendencies noted in the U. S. Education Report. Un- 
less the tendencies of the last twenty-five years have been modi- 
fied suddenly, one can hardly generate from these general sta- 
tistics any great fear lest vocational education, particularly of 
the specialized, industrial type for our boys over fourteen years 
of age, will overrun in the near future the high schools — for the 
figures reveal unmistakably the academic influences that have 
prevailed in American high schools, so far as enrollments in 
subjects is concerned. The claim of the secondary school for 
public support can not be weighed justly except in the light of 
the kind of education that is being given by them to our sons 
and daughters. Progressive communities in many instances 
have already reorganized secondary schools. In the East, West, 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 139 

North, and South are scores of high schools erected during the 
past ten years, that rise high above the country-wide averages 
for almost any aspect of secondary education. Students of sec- 
ondary education, such as the lamented Johnston, and Lange, 
Claxton, Snedden, Monroe, Hollister, and Inglis have contrib- 
uted successfully to train a new generation of superior teachers 
with better views of the responsibility of the high school toward 
the state and society. 

It is an encouraging sign also that able commissions and com- 
mittees have under way plans and recommendations for the 
entire reorganization of secondary education in this country, — a 
reorganization doubtless that will be fought at every step just 
as the introduction of industrial education into public educa- 
tion has been combated by ultraconservatives at every turn. 
It is a good thing that democracy flourishes under discussion, 
especially when discussion is tempered by a ballast of facts 
gained through experiment. 

What Schools Should Teach Vocations? 

Vocational courses in public schools. The above prelimi- 
nary sketch indicates some of the problems intrinsic in support- 
ing vocational education lower than college grade. Various 
economic changes and the disappearance of the protective and 
instructive gild and apprenticeship systems have rendered un- 
certain and inadequate the training of modern youth in the 
common occupations. These occupations, grading from well- 
defined trades down through specialized factory-operations 
demanding little previous training, to simple manual labor — 
if they are to be taken in hand by public schools, present peda- 
gogical, ethical, and financial difficulties of moment. If the ex- 
isting high schools are to be utilized more widely for vocational 
instruction of boys and youth, we are confronted by academic 
habits of instruction, and by the fact that the high schools as a 
rule minister, to young girls, rather than to boys, and are manned 



140 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

by women, rather than by men. During the year 1915-1916 
there were in the four-year pubhc schools of the United States 
36,894 women and 25,749 men as instructors. The relative 
number of woman instructors in the elementary schools is far 
greater. In the high schools there were enrolled 743,663 girls, 
and 618,851 boys (U. S. Education Report 1917, vol. II, p. 520). 
Neither the women nor the men in academic high schools as a 
rule are prepared by training and contact with industries to 
teach boys the specialized dexterity and knowledge necessary 
in common skilled occupations. Shall we then erect sepa- 
rate, distinct, vocational schools under public control? It is to 
be admitted that in some instances this step is necessary in 
order to achieve the objects desired, although even in separate 
schools the individual can not be permanently separated from 
opportunity for general and liberal education. As we have 
indicated (page 38) there can not be a safe divorcement in the 
lifetime of an individual between general and liberal, and special- 
ized vocational education under a democracy. Obviously, new 
types of teachers, new processes, and productive shops, will 
be needed in public high schools, if the divorcement is to be 
avoided. 

The Illinois Educational Commission reported ten reasons 
why the public schools should "take on vocational courses" 
rather than " continue as in the past under the assumption that 
the vocational idea has no proper place in the educational 
process." These ten reasons, set forth for the adoption of the 
vocational plan within public schools, are in substance as fol- 
lows: 

1. It is vastly cheaper. 

2. It enables the student to live at home where all young people of 
secondary age belong. 

3. A single school with a variety of vocational courses is a better 
school than is one devoted to a single idea. 

4. In the cosmopolitan school, the student develops vocational 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION l41 

consciousness and is trained to efficiency while maintaining true re- 
lations between the vocational and the non- vocational, the particular 
and the general, himself and the race, his own class and people in gen- 
eral. 

5. To educate the children of different classes separately is to pre- 
vent that natural transfer of individuals from one profession into an- 
other which is in every way desirable from both the public and the 
private point of view. If the children of farmers are systematically 
put into schools where only agriculture is taught, many a good lawyer 
and many a good citizen will be spoiled to make an indifferent farmer. 
Boys do not necessarily inherit the father's vocation. 

6. The school that offers a variety of vocational courses enables the 
student to "find himself" during the educational period. 

7. Students educated in company with those preparing for other 
vocations, will go out better prepared to respect other callings, and the 
rights of men, and to deplore factions. 

8. Schools involving a variety of interests instill into a community, 
as well as an individual, ambition and spirit. 

9. Schools should foster vocational ideals and turn out individuals 
efficient in specific lines, but should be essentially non-vocational. 

10. The cosmopolitan school will prevent social cleavage. "The 
separated agricultural school, for example, is an irresistible agent for 
peasantizing the American farmer." (12) 

Public sentiment. Considerable weight of testimony de- 
manding practical education lower than college grade comes 
from many classes of citizens — educators, manufacturers, em- 
ployees, unionists, social workers, philanthropists, etc., and is 
recorded in the reports both of the Royal Commission on Indus- 
trial Training and Technical Education for the Canadian Par- 
liament in 1913, a comprehensive study of conditions in many 
lands, and also of the Federal Commission on National Aid to 
Vocational Education appointed by President Woodrow Wilson 
in 1914. The materials of these reports, as well as of other 
special reports, furnished evidence of the increasing desire and 
need throughout the whole of North America for a better vo- 



142 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

cational training for the common occupations of life as con- 
trasted with the professions. This desire and need has been 
accentuated by the World War. 

The Federal Commission placed stress upon the fact that, in 
addition to affirmative replies from certain representatives of 
corporations and unions, in answer to the question as to whether 
there was need for vocational education in the various states, 
43 out of 44 state school superintendents, 320 out of 375 super- 
intendents of cities over 10,000 inhabitants, said, by question- 
naire, "national aid is necessary." The state superintendents 
of education gave numerous reasons for the need of national 
grants. 

E. g., "State lines are becoming less and less distinct." "To start 
a belief and an interest in such education." "Our local school bonds 
are insufficient." "Investigations must be made to put the work on a 
sound and economic basis. Services of experts are needed." "People 
wander from State to State." " State and local funds are inadequate." 
"Such education is expensive but confers a benefit upon the entire 
nation." "Would stimulate local effort and increase local facilities." 
"Our State is largely rural and rural communities can hardly support 
schools where the bare essentials are taught." "Our dual system of 
schools for whites and negroes imposes a heavy cost, rendering the 
development of industrial and vocational education slow." "This is 
a young and rapidly growing State where taxes are high." (2) 

Vocational education and philanthropy. At this point we 
note the strong financial and moral support that has been given 
by philanthropy and by corporations and unions to certain 
forms of vocational education. This support has happily miti- 
gated conditions that characterized schools of the past. Phil- 
anthropy in vocational education has found multitudinous 
channels. Professional schools for theology, medicine, law, 
engineering, music, art, have been richly endowed. Some phil- 
anthropic industrial schools were established for general train- 
ing and have added industrial training. Others began as trades 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 143 

schools. Some are free, some charge nominal fees or tuition. 
Some are preparatory trades schools; some, night schools; some 
aim to turn out graduates prepared to be skilled workers. There 
are day schools provided, and schools that afford a home for 
pupils. The Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the U. S. Commis- 
sioner of Labor describes a wide range of industrial schools 
estabHshed through benevolence. (13) 

An illustrative list of industrial schools or endowments in 
different parts of the country, established through benevolence, 
is as follows: 

Young Men's Christian Association, International. 

The Women's Educational and Industrial Union of Boston, Mass. 

Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, Williams, Pa. 

The Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pa. 

David Ranken, Jr., School of Mechanical Trades, St. Louis, Mo. 

Wentworth Institute, Boston, Mass. 

Virginia Mechanics Institute, Richmond, Va. 

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York. 

Wilmerding School of Mechanical Arts, and the Wilmerding School 
of Industrial Arts, San Francisco, Cal. 

The Ralph Sellew Institute of St. Louis. 

Clara de Hirsch Trade School for Girls, New York Cit3^ 

Rochester Mechanics Institute, Rochester, New York. 

Hebrew Technical School for Girls, New York City. 

The Lewis Institute, Chicago, Illinois. 

The Dunwoody Institute, Minneapolis, Minn. 

The Isaac Delgado Central Trades School for Boys, New Orleans, 
La. 

Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute (for Negroes), Tuskegee, 
Ala. 

Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (for Negroes), Hamp- 
ton, Va. 

Corporation and trade-union schools. Schools are main- 
tained by scores of corporations both to give academic training 
needed by their younger workers, and also to supplement by 



144 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

trade and technical instruction the training received by appren- 
tices in their plants. In many instances there is a survival of a 
type of apprenticeship. There is a tendency in some plants to 
keep a youth, or so-called apprentice, at one operation or one 
machine long after he is familiar with it, in the interest of large 
output. Consequently when the boy or girl finishes the term, 
he may know one process or operation thoroughly, but not a 
skilled trade in its various aspects. One bad result of this sinful 
practice has come home to both the employer and the employee, 
for we are confronted with a scarcity of well-trained workers, 
so that industrial enterprises have been seriously hampered. 
Broadminded employers have recognized that under this policy 
industry will produce neither skilled workers nor competent 
foremen, so that some commendable efforts have been made to 
erect real apprenticeship systems. In these it is planned that 
the indentured boy should receive trade training and also in- 
struction in mathematics, mechanical drawing, elementary 
physics, or other subjects, to facilitate advancement in his 
trade. Arrangements are frequently made for attendance dur- 
ing a few hours per week throughout the period of indenture. 
In the better class of such schools, the employers pay a bonus 
for completion of the course, and the shop instructors inspire 
as well as teach, and encourage clean personal habits and right 
ideals of work. Some corporations cooperate with the public 
schools; others maintain independent schools within their own 
plants. The danger of exploitation of youth is ever present, and 
the corporation schools vary in efficiency and merit. (19) 

The following railroads established schools, or classes for emi^loyees: 
New York Central, Santa Fe, Grand Trunk, Erie, Pennsylvania, Union 
Pacific, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western, Delaware and Hudson, 
Central Railroad of New Jersey, Chicago Great Western, Pere Mar- 
quette, Southern, Big Four, etc. Among corporations wliich have 
supported apprenticeship schools are: Ford Motor Co., Detroit, Mich.; 
Cadillac Motor Car Co., Detroit, Mich.; Armour & Co., Chicago, 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 145 

111.; General Electric Co., Schenectady, N. Y.; Metropolitan Life In- 
surance Co., New York; Western Electric Co., Chicago, 111.; Westing- 
house Electric and Manufacturing Co., East Pittsburg, Pa.; Brown & 
Sharpe, Providence, R. I.; International Harvester Co., Chicago, 111.; 
D. E. Licher & Co., New York; Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co., 
Stamford, Conn.; Baldwin Locomotive Co., Philadelphia, Pa.; Ameri- 
can Locomotive Co., Dunkirk, N. Y.; Lakeside Press, Chicago, 111.; 
Cincinnati Milling Machine Co., etc. Department stores and similar 
corporations have made marked progress in the establishment of vo- 
cational schools or classes of various types, e. g., Jordan Marsh Co., 
Boston, Mass.; Sears-Roebuck Co., Chicago, 111.; William Filene, 
Boston, Mass.; John Wanamaker, New York; Lord & Taylor, New 
York; Broadway Store, Los Angeles; Emporium, San Fi'ancisco, Cal; 
Halle Bros. Co., Cleveland, Ohio; L. S. Ayres, Indianapolis, Ind. 
Telephone companies have also developed service instruction, e. g., 
the New York Telephone Co., and the Chicago Telephone Go. 

In Chicago, Minneapolis, and other cities labor unions have 
from time to time entered into agreements with both philan- 
thropic and public schools to supplement the training of ap- 
prentices. Unions also support a few trade schools. A 
notable example is the training afforded by the International 
Typographical Union Commission on Supplemental Trade 
Education. 

Federal Policy toward Education 

Slow development. The policy of the Federal Government 
toward education in general has been a matter of slow develop- 
ment. The Government at first merely aided and encouraged 
the States by granting endowments to the States, unevenly 
distributed grants of land or money. The land grant policy 
was begun in the days when land was about all the govern- 
ment had to give, the money grants representing a much later 
development. Vast wealth in lands which might have been 
retained for the support of public education was grievously 
dissipated in some States. From the original proposal of Colonel 



146 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Pickering in April, 1783, to the passage of the Smith-Hughes 
Act by Congress in April, 1917, — there is a history of increasing 
national aid and participation in education. The details of 
this history are found in the Congressional Globe, in the Con- 
gressional Record, in American State Papers, Public Lands, in 
Poore's Federal and State Constitutions, in Congressional Docu- 
ments, etc., and in abbreviated fonn, illustrative material is 
available in the studies of Kandel,(16) and of Cubberley and 
Elliott. (5) 

Some legislative history. Early in the history of our country 
there came to Congress a stream of requests, petitions, and 
memorials asking for grants of land and money for educational 
or for charitable purposes. President Pierce vetoed a bill grant- 
ing aid to States for a hospital for insane, and during the debate 
on Senator Morrill's first bill asking for aid to agricultural and 
mechanical education, Senator Pugh quoted with approval 
this veto, urging that if Congress could aid agricultural educa- 
tion it could assist every species of education and in time would 
encroach upon the whole field. Senators Mason, Jefferson 
Davis, and Clay supported him in the contention that the bill 
was opposed to the reserved rights and true interests of the 
states. 

Some contemporary disputants of vocational education pro 
and con speak as though the reasons set forth by them were new 
discoveries, peculiar to these present times. It is interesting 
at this point to note the trend of arguments offered by Mr. 
Morrill before Congress in the year 1858, 

Mr. Morrill began his address by reminding the House of the literal 
bombardment of petitions it had undergone on this subject from "the 
various states, North and South," state societies, county societies, 
and individuals. Hardly a day had passed since the beginning of the 
session that had been without some petition in favor of this bill. Con- 
gress had legislated for all other classes of the community ; it had pro- 
tected authors by means of copyright laws, it had given encourage- 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 147 

ment to inventors by patent legislation, and so on through a long enu- 
meration of interests whose welfare had been considered. "All direct 
encouragement to agriculture has been rigidlj'^ withheld," but "when 
commerce comes to our doors, gay in its attire and lavish in its prom- 
ises, we 'hand and deliver' at once our gold. When manufacturer 
appears, with a needy and downcast look, we tender, at worst, a ' com- 
promise.'" 

Federal aid in favor of agriculture, Mr. Morrill contended, was im- 
peratively needed. So defective is the method of agricultural culti- 
vation that year by year the American soil is becoming poorer, and 
"many foreign states support a population vastly larger per square 
mile than we maintain." The one way to overcome this condition, 
Mr. Morrill continued, was to enable each profession to educate itself. 
"The farmer and the mechanic require special schools and appro- 
priate literature quite as much as any one of the so-called learned pro- 
fessions. ... It is plainly an indication that education is taking a 
step in advance when public sentiment begins to demand that the 
faculties of young men shall be trained with some reference to the voca- 
tion to which they are to be devoted through life." A system of agri- 
cultural colleges would interfere in no way with the existing literary 
colleges. 

Mr. Morrill then proceeded to outline the definite purposes that the 
proposed agricultural colleges would fulfil. . . . 

In conclusion Mr. Morrill made an appeal to the House to "Pass this 
bill and we shall have done — 

" Something to enable the farmer to raise two blades of grass instead 
of one; 

Something for every owner of land; 

Something for all who desire to own land; 

Something for cheap scientific education; 

Something for every man who loves intelligence and not ignorance; 

Something to induce the father's sons and daughters to settle and 
cluster around the old homestead; 

Something to remove the last vestige of pauperism from our land; 

Something for peace, good order, and the better support of Christian 
churches and common schools; 

Something to enable sterile railroads to pay dividends; 



148 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Something to enable tlie people to bear the enormous expenditure 
of the national government; 

Something to check the passion of individuals, and of the nation, 

for definite territorial expansion and ultimate decrepitude; 

Something to prevent the dispersion of our population, and to con- 
centrate it around the best lands of our country — places hallowed 
by church spires, and mellowed by all the influences of time — 
where the consumer will be placed at the door of the producer and 
thereby 

Something to obtain higher prices for all sorts of agricultural pro- 
ductions; and 

Something to increase the loveliness of the American landscape." 
(16) 

I. L. Kandel has dug into congressional records and brought 
forth a monograph of the above facts about the legislative 
history of federal aid for vocational education, the constitu- 
tional and educational precedents, and subsequent develop- 
ments. The debates and parliamentary tactics resorted to by 
Messrs. Morrill, Cobb, Davis, Bell, Pugh, Rice, and others may 
be read now in the perspective of sixty years with keen interest 
and perhaps with some amusement. 

Veto of Buchanan. The action of President Buchanan who 
vetoed the bill in 1859, granting federal aid in support of agri- 
cultural education, was accompanied by his statement of six 
grounds for disapproval. Repeated in abbreviated form the 
reasons were these : 

1. The bill was financially inexpedient at the time. 

2. It established a dangerous financial precedent. 

3. The bill would be prejudicial to the settlement of the new States 
which needed above all things actual settlers occupying small portions 
of land. 

4. The Federal Government had confessedly no constitutional power 
to follow it into the States and enforce the application of the fund 
to the intended objects. No control over the gift would remain after 
it had passed from the Government's hands. 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 149 

5. The bill would injuriously interfere with existing colleges in the 
different States in many of which agriculture was taught as a science. 

6. The bill was unconstitutional. (16) 

Some of the dire things prophesied by President Buchanan 
came true after the final passage of the Morrill Act in later 
years, but, on the whole, the federal appropriations for agri- 
cultural and mechanical education in the States have been tre- 
mendously fruitful of good to the whole people. 

Morrill Act. The unsuccessful attempt to pass the bill 
vetoed by President Buchanan in 1859, was soon followed by 
the introduction of a similar measure. This measure was passed 
by both houses and approved by President Abraham Lincoln 
on July 2, 1862. This great Act, the provisions of which were 
subsequently enlarged or extended by amendments, and by the 
Hatch Act (1887), by the Second Morrill Act (1890), by the 
Nelson Act (1907), and by the Agricultural-Extension Act 
(1914) — was for the purpose of donating public lands to the 
several States and Territories which may provide colleges for 
the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. (See U. S. 
Statutes at Large, 37 Congress, p. 503.) It is known as the 
First Morrill Act, and under its provisions and amendments 
the agricultural and mechanical colleges in our states have 
multiplied and grown. 

The fact that the Morrill Act is often spoken of as the prede- 
cessor of all other appropriations by the general government 
for education has led to considerable glorification of Senator 
Morrill. 

Jonathan B. Turner. President James has brought to light 
evidence to show that the real father of the so-called Morrill 
Act was Jonathan B. Turner (b. 1805, d. 1898). He formulated 
clearly and definitely a plan for national grants for the promo- 
tion of education in agriculture and the mechanic arts, and 
inaugurated agitation among the citizens of Illinois which event- 
ually made possible the passage of the bill. Definite proposi- 



150 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

tions were recommended to Congress by the famous resolutions 
of the Legislature of Illinois in 1853 (15). There is good reason 
to believe that Turner and his friends selected Morrill to 
introduce the bill, and that Morrill managed the matter ad- 
mirably. (15) 

Significance of Morrill Act. The tremendous influence of 
the Morrill Act evidently gained impetus from currents such as 
the Fellenberg movement, and especially from the activities of 
Jonathan B. Turner, activities already under way even before 
the veto of President Buchanan. Henry S. Pritchett of the 
Carnegie Foundation claims that there is wide misconception 
as to what actually took place in Congress prior to the enact- 
ment of the Morrill Act of 1862. "The discussions," says he, 
"which led up to the passage of that Act are buried in numerous 
volumes of the Congressional Record and are not accessible to 
the public. A brief exhibit of this discussion is of high value in 
showing what the original intentions of Congress were, by what 
means the bill was enacted into law, and, most astonishing of 
all, the absence of any serious educational program. Congress 
had before it no clear, well-considered educational project. 
Senator Morrill himself knew very little of education. His wish 
was to do something for the farmer. "(16) 

Federal acts summarized. We have added below to the 
summary prepared by the U. S. Bureau of Education memo- 
randa concerning the Smith-Hughes and the Smith-Sears Acts 
of Congress. These various Acts mark important steps toward 
federal support of various phases of vocational education. 

(1) The act of July 2, 1862, granting public lands to the States, 
known as the "first Morrill Act," and the act of March 3, 1883, amend- 
ing the previous act and providing for the investment of capital. 

(2) The Act of August 30, 1890, making yearly appropriations to 
the States and Territories in aid of colleges of agriculture and the 
mechanic arts, known as the "second Morrill Act." 

(3) The act of March 4, 1907, known as the "Nelson amendment," 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 151 

increasing the annual appropriation to $50,000 per year to each State 
and extending the conditions for the use of the funds. 

In addition to the three acts supporting instructional work there 
have been three acts granting federal aid for experimentation and 
extension work : 

(4) The act of March 2, 1887, the "Hatch Act," granting $15,000 
to each State for agricultural experiment stations. 

(5) The act of March 16, 1906, the "Adams Act," increasing the 
annual payment for experiment stations to $30,000 for each State. 

(6) The act of May 8, 1914, the "Smith-Lever Act," making an 
annual appropriation to each State for agricultural extension work. 

(7) The act of February 23, 1917, the "Smith-Hughes Act," an act 
to provide for the promotion of vocational education; to provide for 
cooperation with the States in the promotion of such education in 
agriculture and the trades and industries; to provide for cooperation 
with the States in the preparation of teachers of vocational subjects; 
and to appropriate money and regulate its expenditure. 

(8) The act of June 27, 1918, the "Smith-Sears Act," an act 
to provide for vocational rehabilitation and return to civil employ- 
ment of disabled persons discharged from the military or naval forces 
of the United States and for other purposes. 

After the appointment of the Commission on Vocational 
Education, created by act of Congress on January 20, 1914, 
Congress provided still further means of aiding the agricultural 
colleges to extend their work. This was the "Agricultural- 
Extension Act" (Smith-Lever), providing cooperative agri- 
cultural extension work between the agricultural colleges in the 
several states receiving the benefits of the Morrill Act of 1862, 
and of acts supplementary thereto, and the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture. Federal appropriations began in 1914 
with $480,000 or $10,000 for each state. This sum is to be in- 
creased by annual increments until a total of $4,100,000 annual 
appropriation is reached, to be divided by the Secretary of Agri- 
culture among the states in the proportion that their rural pop- 
ulations bear to the rural population of the United States, and 



152 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

each state must raise an amount equal to that from the Federal 
Government. Four points in this Act are to be noted: (1) The 
Act aids in the diffusion among the people of the United States 
of useful and practical information on subjects relating to agri- 
culture and home economics. (2) The extension work is to be 
done in connection with colleges. (3) Instruction and practical 
demonstrations in agriculture and home economics, shall be 
given "to persons not attending or resident in said colleges in 
the several communities." It will be found that this provision 
(Act of May 8, 1914, Sec. 2) made possible a duplication of 
some work authorized under the Smith-Hughes Act, the bene- 
fits of which are intended only for instruction lower than college 
grade. (4) Cooperation is demanded between the States, the 
Colleges, and the United States Department of Agriculture. 

Concerning cooperation. Dean Eugene Davenport, of the 
Illinois College of Agriculture, has made this observation: 

I am convinced that most of the irritation and difficulty and most 
of the absurd 'cooperation' have arisen from the Department's un- 
dertaking to solve local problems entirely outside its proper field of 
activity, often to the embarrassment of the stations, and with no other 
excuse than that it had the money and the inclination to do it, and that 
it is easier to secure funds by indirect than by direct taxation. (6) 

Dean Davenport is of the opinion that the sphere of the 
United States Department of Agriculture should be "national, 
international, or at least interstate in operation," while "to the 
state institutions belongs the study of local questions." 

Federal Expenditures for Education 

Income of agricultural and mechanical colleges. The severe 
critics of the expenditures of federal money for vocational edu- 
cation whether in agricultural colleges under the Morrill and 
subsequent acts, or in secondary education under the Smith- 
Hughes Act, overlook three important facts which destroy some 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 153 

of the force of destructive criticism. First, the proportion of 
income derived by the agricultural and mechanical colleges from 
the Federal Government is less than twelve per cent of their 
total income, — most of which comes from the states and from 
private sources. Table VII, on page 154, shows the sources of 
income of all agricultural and mechanical colleges for five years. 

The second fact is that the total amounts appropriated by the 
Federal Govermnent for the agricultural and mechanical colleges 
have been relatively insignificant when compared with govern- 
mental expenditures for objects other than education, or with 
expenditures of the American people for tobacco, or confection- 
ery, etc. A third matter is that under the Smith-Hughes Act, 
the proportion of costs borne by the States is far greater than 
that borne by the Federal Government. The States, or local 
authorities, often furnish buildings, equipment, and plants in 
addition to sharing costs of instruction dollar for dollar with the 
Federal Government. 

Total of federal grants before the World War. Before the 
appointment of the Federal Commission on National Aid to 
Vocational Education, the work of which culminated during 
1917 in the passage of the Smith-Hughes Act, and four years 
before the World War, Cubberley, summing up data from various 
sources, attempted to set forth the grand total of national grants 
for education. He estimated the amounts to be as follows: 
total acres of land granted — 149,299,775; total funds derived 
from land sales — $206,343,494; probable future income cal- 
culated for twenty years into the future— $725,100,000; total 
income from these grants— $829,520,000. (Monroe's Cycl. of 
Ed., Vol. IV, p. 382.) The amounts do not include federal 
expenditures for the training of officers for the Army and Navy, 
at West Point and Annapolis. 



TABLE VII 

Income of Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges dur- 
ing Five Years. (31) 





Funds for instruction and administration 


Source of income 


1913 


1914 


1915 


1916 


1917 


State funds: 

From endowment granted by the 
State 


$131,415 
3,095,341 

591,921 
6,703,831 

3,695,249 


$479,050 
4,010,234 

615,183 
9,176,464 

3,716,834 


$104,966 
3,733,316 

624,467 
10,774,782 

2,768,576 


$135,444 
3,842,112 

629,419 
11,829,281 

2,833,2M 


$160,766 


From mill tax levy for support. . . 

From mill tax levy for permanent 
improvements 

From appropriations for support 

From appropriations for per- 
manent improvements 


6,441,533 

692,116 
10,300,845 

3,783,702 


Total State aid 


14,217,760 


17,997,765 


18,006,107 


19,269,460 


21,378,902 






I'nited States funds: 

From land-grant fund of 1862 . . 
From other land-grant funds .... 
From Morrill-Nelson funds of 
1890 and 1907 


859,074 
186,551 

2,490,000 


846,087 
264,111 

2,500,000 


856,838 
195,239 

2,500,000 


884,514 
193,573 

2,500,000 


930,170 
241,840 

2,515,171 






Total Federal aid 


3,535,625 


3,592,198 


3,552,077 

.... 


3,578,087 


3,687,181 


College funds: 

From college endowment funds . . 
From tuition, fees, board, and 


966,204 

2,683,960 

(2) 
(2) 

(2) 
3,558,590 


1,151,511 

3,059,358 

(2) 
(2) 

(2) 
9,090,392 


1,206,672 

3,565,771 

(2) 
(2) 

(2) 
5,621,138 


1,444,075 

3,741,429 

(2) 
(2) 

(2) 
10,541,771 

15,427,275 


1,399,607 

6,077,868 


From departmental earnings. . . . 

From private gifts for support . . . 

From private gifts for permanent 

improvements and endow- 


2,970,412 
312,054 

901,340 




1113 8.36 






Total college funds 


7,208,754 


13,301,261 


10,403,581 


12,775,117 


Total income for instruc- 
tion and administration . . 


24,962,139 


34,891,224 


31,961,765 


38,274,822 


37,841,260 



FUNDS FOR EXPERIMENT STATIONS 





$1,024,4.55 

1,.3.59,302 

(3) 

(3) 


$1,068,441 
1,347,4.59 

(3) 
(3) 


$1,129,700 

1,369,288 

(3) 

(3) 


$1,059,018 
1,.362,000 

f3) 
(3) 


.$1,588,883 
1 369,700 




Private gifts . . . 


242 602 


Experiment station earnings 


1,213,216 


Total funds for experiment . 


2,383,757 


2,415,900 


2,498,997 


2,421,018 


4 414 419 







FUNDS FOR EXTENSION SERVICE 



State funds, Smith-Lever, and 

others 

United States funds 


$722,425 


$1,292,273 


$1,075,005 
491,238 

(3) 
(3) 


$1,364,356 

1,113,490 

(3) 

(3) 


$2,325,563 
1,411,836 


County, city, or association funds . . 
Private gifts and miscellaneous. . . . 


(3) 
(3) 


(3) 
(3) 


696,.334 
79,985 


Toral for extension service . . 


722,425 


1,292,273 


1,566,243 


2,477,846 


4,513,718 


Grand total income of in- 


28,068,321 


.38,599,397 


36,027,005 


43,173,686 


46,769,397 







Receipts from board and lodging included for the first time in 1917. 
; Included in miscellaneous. 

154 



3 Not reported. 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 155 

Other federal appropriations for education. Since our en- 
trance into the World War and the tremendous expenditures 
resulting therefrom, we do not know the expenditures appor- 
tioned by our Government for educational purposes. In addi- 
tion to the grants and endowments recorded in the above table, 
the reader will understand that it has become the policy of the 
Federal Government to expend large sums for both the direct 
and also the indirect advancement of education. Here is a 
tabulation of the groups of appropriations made by the Govern- 
ment for the advancement of education through its various 
departments and bureaus, during the year immediately pre- 
ceding the outbreak of the World War. (5) 

TABLE VIII 

Appropriations by the United States Government for the 
Advancement of Education for the Fiscal Year 
ending June 30, 1914 

a) Department of State $31,000.00 

b) War Department 1,246,159.97 

Department of Justice 41,000. 00 

d) Navy Department 893,457.00 

e) Department of Interior 7,745,945 . 00 

f) Department of Agriculture 1,679,660. 00 

g) Department of Commerce and Labor 25,640 . 00 

h) Library of Congress 809,375.00 

i) Smithsonian Institution 805,400 . 00a 

j) District of Columbia 3,163,640.00b 



$16,441,276.97 



a. Includes $50,000 to be paid from the revenues of the District of 
Columbia. 

b. One half of this amount is to be paid from the revenues of the 
District of Columbia. 



156 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

The Federal Government also conducts vast educational 
enterprises concerned with direct teaching, in Alaska, Hawaii, 
the Philippines, Porto Rico, and Panama, and for the Indians. 
It aids indirect educational agencies of many kinds, such as the 
Smithsonian Institution, the Children's Bureau, the United 
States Bureau of Education. International congresses, scien- 
tific associations, expositions, commissions, etc., have received 
millions of dollars from the govermnent. The United States 
Department of Agriculture is an institution largely educational 
in character. The agricultural appropriation during March, 
1918, amounted to $28,000,000. 

Federal support of vocational education a fact. The pre- 
ceding pages have related partly to governmental aid as ex- 
tended to education in general, and to agricultural and mechan- 
ical education of college grade. More specific is the inquiry con- 
cerning federal aid to vocational education lower than college 
grade as an important phase of public education. The figures 
in this chapter so far have not included the appropriations for 
support of vocational education made under the Smith-Hughes 
Act. 

We have reached the stage in our national history where 
federal aid for vocational education of definite types is a fact. 
Large support has long been given to agricultural education. 
Occupational training for the Army, the Navy, aviation, etc., 
is paid for and regulated entirely by the Federal Government — 
as is also general education in Hawaii, the Philippines, and 
Alaska, and for the Indians. The vocational rehabilitation of 
disabled returned soldiers has been added as a national obliga- 
tion to be discharged under the auspices of the Federal Govern- 
ment. The Smith-Hughes Act has made operative a larger 
measure of cooperation with the States in the establishment and 
maintenance of vocational education lower than college grade 
in agriculture, trades and industries, and home economics. 
However, the recognized responsibility for all education, as a rule 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 157 

in America, is generally local not central. It is probable that in 
the future there will be an increasing development of larger 
federal aid and participation in education, but that in equal 
measure the autonomy of the States in educational organization 
and control will be zealously preserved by school men and citi- 
zens. 

Summary 

1. The problem is present continually: What phases of edu- 

cation can be supported most profitably by municipality, 
by State, or by Federal Government? The reasons why 
society must support universal education have already 
been stated in Chapter I. The distributions of money 
and of effort for education with reference both to the 
upbuilding of the mass of the people and also to the train- 
ing of able leaders need to be scrutinized in order that 
the ideals of universal education may be followed. 

2. The questions of responsibility for and support of education 

may be approached better by an understanding that many 
factors other than the school are educational sources — 
e. g., physical environment, the tribe, the family, the 
church, the theatre, the press, the crowd. 

3. Many of the occupational activities of man can perhaps be 

traced back to his inevitable reaction to the necessities 
of adaptation to physical environment, e. g., food-getting, 
manufacture, transportation, barter and exchange, and 
even the uses of spare time. Environment both supplies 
raw materials, and is also an instructor of the human race, 
although ages of slow progress have proved that we can 
not depend very definitely upon the poetical conception 
of "Nature the first and great Teacher." 

4. The family both in primitive and in modern life is a cardinal 

element in occupational and in general education. Ethi- 
cal idealism, which is an indispensable accompaniment 



158 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of specialized vocational training, must have its root in 
wholesome family life. 

5. Apprenticeship and the gilds of olden time do not exist 

today, although similarities to them are discovered in 
modern agreements for apprenticeship and in the exist- 
ence of unions and corporations. Specialization of labor, 
competition, the factory system, the fact that employers 
can not know personally hundreds or thousands of em- 
ployees, conflicts between capital and labor, — all these 
factors render futile the hope that revivals of apprentice- 
ship at its best may solve the problems of secondary 
vocational education. 

6. Because precious arts lost beyond recovery were probably 

practiced by a few, or have been replaced by better arts — 
as the match replaced flint and steel, and the turbine the 
crude water-wheel, it is problematical whether the system 
of individual responsibility for workmanship which 
produced many wonderful products has not gained an 
exaggerated evaluation, so far as the welfare of society 
is concerned. Individualistic handicraft flourishes in 
backward countries. 

7. The decay of individualistic handicraft, apprenticeship, 

and the fostering gild, however, has left youth without 
responsible direction or support in learning skilled trades. 
Quantity of production is emphasized at the expense of 
the worker. Women and children have been exploited, 
machine-like operations full of monotony and danger some- 
times have accompanied standardization and specializa- 
tion in manufacturing; aimlessness and drifting of labor 
cause ultimate loss to employer and employee. These 
conditions are found both in the United States and in 
Canada. 

8. More than ninety one per cent of the total school enrolhnent 

is found in the elementary schools. General, elementary 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 159 

education is fundamental to all useful occupations; that, as 
given, it is insufficient as adequate preparation for occupa- 
tions, is also true. 

Seven per cent of school enrollment is in the high 
schools. Of high school students overwhelmingly large 
numbers take English literature, algebra, history, Latin, 
etc. Relatively small numbers have taken manual train- 
ing, household economics, agriculture. Progressive tend- 
encies are marked in many American high schools, and 
large results are accruing from the introduction of the 
junior high schools. The National Commission on Reor- 
ganization of Secondary Education of the National 
Education Association has offered comprehensive sug- 
gestions for better adjustment of the American high 
school to meet the needs of democracy. 
9. That public schools may generally assume the burden of 
providing vocational courses, rather than invariably to 
allow separate vocational schools, appears established for 
reasons such as those set forth by the Illinois Commis- 
sion. However, this cannot be wise in every locality, 
and where courses are to be installed in existing public 
schools, usually a different type of teacher, trained by 
contact with industry as well as with books, must be se- 
cured. Furthermore, staid, academic influences must 
not be permitted to obstruct or dominate through 
majority votes or executive inactivity, plans for sub- 
stantial improvement of the community by means of 
the vocational classes or school. 

10. The arguments for national aid to vocational education 

have been variously appraised, from the time of Presi- 
dent Buchanan to the present. The need, however, of 
better secondary vocational education seems firmly es- 
tabUshed. 

11. The fact that the state must support and control education 



160 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

under democracy does not exclude philanthropy, churches, 
or individuals from the conduct and ownership of educa- 
tional institutions. They are permitted to help, not to de- 
stroy, the ideals and efficiency of democracy. Corpora- 
tions, unions, benevolent associations, notably the 
Young Men's Christian Association, and individuals, 
have shown remarkable enterprise in supplementing 
public education by means of apprentice, industrial, 
and commercial classes or schools of various types. 
12. Federal policy toward the support of education in the res- 
pective states has been of slow development. Not men- 
tioned in the Constitution, the control and support of 
education was left to the States, the Federal Govermnent, 
however, constantly encouraging and helping the States 
by means of land grants and appropriations. The Gov- 
ermnent has gradually taken upon itself, directly or in- 
directly, great educational enterprises. The average 
citizen perhaps does not realize the extent of governmental 
activity in education, or the vast sums annually appro- 
priated therefor by the government, even before the 
exceptional conditions of the World War. The federal 
policy reached its present culmination in the radical 
changes introduced by the enactment by Congress of the 
Smith-Hughes Law in 1917. 

It is an important task for students to examine this law. 
The following chapter will therefore deal with the further 
development of federal cooperation, especially as indi- 
cated by the Smith-Hughes Act. 

Problems 

1. During the past ten years in your own community what 
different factors have been most potent in the different 
phases of education? Give illustrations for each general 
kind of education. 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 161 

2. Give definite examples of how physical environment has 

modified the prevailing occupations of people in Alaska, 
Hawaii, the Philippines, California, lUinois, Louisiana, 
Michigan, Maine, Pennsylvania, Tennessee. Consult 
the Census Reports for 1910, vol. IV, and geographies. 

3. Has Nature ever taught you directly? How and what? 

Was your method in that case of learning (a) trial and 
error, or (b) imitation, or (c) reasoning? • 

4. Show that ethical idealism obtained in family life is a neces- 

sary foundation and supplement to specialized vocational 
training. Consider with reference to (a) prospective 
workers in industry, and (b) adult workers in industry 
who attend night schools. 

5. What steps can be taken in your community to conserve 

the features of the American home life at its best? 

6. A well educated man has obtained his status from (a) hered- 

ity; (b) growth or time; (c) home and social environment 
and activities; (d) the school; (e) occupation or vocation; 
(f) uses of spare time. Evaluate in selected occupations 
the probable effects of each kind of the six groups of fac- 
tors named. 

7. Contrast modern and medieval forms of indenture for 

apprenticeship. 

8. Why is it futile to rely to-day upon a revival of medieval 

apprenticeship to give us adequate vocational training 
of secondary grade? 

9. Seek out in old homes, or in museums, some masterpieces 

of handicraft or workmanship, that are known to have 
been made under the old system. E. g. : Furniture, 
vessels, rugs, weapons, jewelry, pottery, books, clothing. 
Contrast carefully with quality, use, and quantity of 
similar productions of to-day. Look up handicraft in 
books about Turkey, China, Africa, Russia, or Indians. 
10. Give any examples of manufactures of to-day that surpass 



162 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

anything of the past, — in metals, wood, fabrics, chemicals 
and drugs. 

11. Trace the origins of invention and the share of woman in the 

establishment of human industries. (See Mason.) 

12. Look up the percentages of law, medical, and theological 

students who have academic degrees. (U. S. Education 
Report, 1917, vol. II.) 

13. Look up the values of plants, endowments, and the cost 

of maintenance of professional schools in the United 
States. 

14. Show to what extent the actual work of the elementary 

schools of your community contributes to vocational 
efficiency. Explain the distinctions between elementary 
education considered as (a) fundamental and as (b) suf- 
jicieni for occupational fitness and citizenship. 

15. Determine the proportions of the student body studying 

each subject, in each of the classes of the high schools of 
your community. Compare with the country-wide 
tendencies. 

16. Abstract important points as related to vocational educa- 

tion, from the report of the Committee on Reorganization 
of Secondary Education, N. E. A., 1918. 

17. Show, along with the power of the strengthened home, that 

vocational courses conducted as a rule in existing public 
schools rather than in separate schools, will help still 
further to prevent the divorcement of general, liberal, 
and specialized vocational phases of public education. 

18. Scrutinize the arguments of the Federal Commission for 

National Aid to Vocational Education, with reference to 
their pecuhar appUcability to specialized vocational 
education. 

19. Look up President Buchanan's veto of the agricultural bill of 

1859. Which of his predictions have not been fulfilled? 
(See Cubberley and Elliott, Source Book, pp. 84-86.) 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 163 

20. From the- U. S. Labor Report for 1910 (Industrial Educa- 

tion) and Annual Reports of the Y. M. C. A., ascertain 
the nature and extent of the activities of the Association 
in vocational education. 

21. Show that schools conducted by churches, or associations, 

or by private enterprise, may be conducted compatibly 
with the doctrine (Ch. I, p. 8) that the State must 
support and control public education. 

22. What definite safeguards of different kinds should the State 

throw around the conduct of educational enterprises 
other than public institutions? E. g. : With reference to 
health, morals, standards, finance? Apply your con- 
clusions to elementary, to secondary, and to professional 
schools not conducted by the state. 

23. Should the city or state have the right to enforce medical 

inspection in all vocational and other schools, private and 
public? Explain the necessity. 

24. In your own city and county what philanthropic institu- 

tions exist for vocational education? Visit, and study 
data from such an institution with regard to : endowment, 
control, organization, purposes, plant and equipment, 
student enrollment, ages and sex of pupils, faculty, meth- 
ods, disposition of products, and results achieved for the 
community. 

25. State any possible dangers both in corporation and also in 

union vocational schools. 

26. Do you know of instances of private vocational schools run 

for gain, and in fact fraudulent? 

27. Obtain data from some of the best corporation, or union 

schools and classes, and analyze for their excellent fea- 
tures and their defects. (19). Formulate some of the 
difficult educational problems that confront corporations 
in the matter of employment and of lessening the "turn 
over" or transiency of employees. 



164 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. American State Papers. Documents, legislative and executive, of the 

Congress of the United States. Selected and edited under the au- 
thority of Congress. Washington, Gales and Leaton, 1832-1861. 
38 v., maps, plans. No. 1-38 of the Congressional series. Class III, 
Finance, 5 v. Class VIII, Public Lands, 8 v. 

2. Commission on National Aid to Vocational Education. By order of 

the Sixty-Third Congress. Washington, 1914, House Document 
1004. Two volumes. See vol. 1, ch. I. 

3. Congressional Globe. Dec. 2, 1833-March 3, 1873. Washington, 

1834-1873. For debates and proceedings of earlier congresses, see 
Annals of Congress, 1789-1824. 

4. Cooperative System of Education, C. W. Park, U. S. Education Bxille- 

tin 37, 1916, 48 p. 111. An account of cooperative education as 
developed in the College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati. 

5. Cubberley, E. P. and Elliott, E. G. Source Book, State and County 

School Administration. N. Y., 1915, 729 p. 

6. Davenport, Eugene. Proc. Assoc, of American Agricultural Colleges 

and Experiment Stations, 1913, pp. 121-133. 

7. Department Store Education. Helen R. Norton. U. S. Education 

Bulletin 9, 1917, 77 p. lU. 

8. Dodd, A. E. Vocational Education and Government Aid. Proc. 

N. E. A., 1916, pp. 479-483. 

9. Federal Board for Vocational Education. Bulletin 1, 1917, 70 p. 

10. Graves, Frank P. A History of Education. N. Y., 1914, 410 p. 

11. Hall, G. Stanley. Industrial Education. A comprehensive chapter in 

vol. 1, of his Educational Problems. N. Y., 1911. 

12. lUinois Educational Commission. Springfield, 111., 1911, 125 p., pp. 

121-125. 

13. Industrial Education. Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the U. S. Com- 

missioner of Labor. Washington, 1911, 822 p. Data and analyses 
concerning various systems of industrial education in the United 
States. 

14. Influence of Environment upon Human Industries or Arts. O. T. 

Mason in Annual Report, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, 
1895, pp. 639-655. 

15. James, Edmund J. The Origin of the Land Grant Act of 1862, and 

Some Account of Its Author. University of Illinois Study, vol. IV, 
no. 1, 1910, 139 p. 



THE AUSPICES OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 165 

16. Kaudel, I. L. Federal Aid for Vocational Education. Bulletin 10, 

Carnegie Foundation, N. Y., 1917, 127 p. A historical study of 
legislation, constitutional and educational precedents relating to 
vocational education. 

17. Mason, Otis T. The Origins of Invention. A study of industry among 

primitive peoples. N. Y., 1910, 419 p. 

18. Monroe, Paul. Text-book in the History of Education. N. Y., 1906, 

771 p. 

19. National Association of Corporation Schools, Report. Lee Galloway, 

Sec, New York University, New York, 1917, 893 p. 111. 

20. National Government of the United States and Education. E. P. 

Cubberley in Monroe's Cyclopedia, vol. IV, pp., 372-382. 

21. Nevins, Allan. Illinois. A first history of the University of Illinois 

and of important early movements for education in the Middle 
West. N. Y., Oxford Press, 1917, 378 p. 

22. Organization and Administration of Secondary Education. Report of 

Committee on the Administration of High Schools of the National 
Commission on Reorganization of Secondary Education of the N. E. 
A. Edited by Charles Hughes Johnston, 1918. 

23. Poore, Benjamin P. The Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial 

Charters, and other Organic Laws of the United States. Compiled 
under order of U. S. Senate. Washington, Government Printing 
Office, 1877, 2 v. 

24. Reigart, J. F. Family Education. In Moru-oe's Cyclopedia, vol. II, 

pp. 574-576. 

25. Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education. 

By order of Canadian Parliament, Ottawa, 1913. Four volumes, 
Parts I, II, III and IV; ill. See Part IV, p. 1643-1645. A compre- 
hensive series of first-hand studies of industrial education made in 
many lands. Probably the most extensive report of the kind in 
recent years. 

26. Scott, J. F. Historical Essays on Apprenticeship and Vocational 

Education. A monograph concerning historical developments of 
apprenticeship and gilds. Ann Arbor, 1914, 83 p. 

27. Service Instruction of American Corporations. L. F. Fuld. U. S. 

Education Bulletin 34, 1916. 

28. Snedden, David. The War and Vocational Education. Adminis- 

tration and Supervision. January 1918, pp. 33-41. 

29. United Census 1910, vol. IV, pp. 18-27. 



166 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

30. United States Education Report, 1917, vol. II, pp. 12, 371-372, 374, 

520. 

31. United States Education Bulletin 41, 1918, 43 p. Statistics of Agri- 

cultural and Mechanical Colleges. 

32. Woman's Share in Primitive Culture. O. T. Mason. New York, 1894, 

295 p. 111. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL 
COOPERATION 

Nature and Origin of the Smith-Hughes Act: Functions and aims; origin; 
National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education; its successor; 
predecessors of the Act; text of the Smith-Hughes Act; mandatory pro- 
visions; discretionary provisions; 

Evaluation of the Smith-Hughes Act: A war measure? Criticisms: (a) 
The Carnegie Bulletin; (b) National Education Association; (c) personnel 
of the Board; (d) incoordination of government effort; (e) the problem of 
discretionary interpretation; (/) professional representation of education; 
(g) a new department. Merits of the Act; allotments to the States; addi- 
tional obligations. 

War and Progress: Accelerated development; fourteen factors in rapid 
development. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. , 

Nature and Origin of Smith-Hughes Act 

Function and aims. The Act of Congress known as the 
Smith-Hughes Act, enabled the Federal Government to develop 
far its cooperation with the States in the promotion of voca- 
tional education lower than college grade. The general methods 
and objects or aims of the Act were summed up thus by the 
Federal Board: 

1. The Federal Government deals with the work in the States only 
through an official State board created by the legislative machinery 
of the State. 

2. The Federal Government deals with the State only in terms of 
standards and policies and not in terms of particular institutions or 
individuals. This means standards and policies rather than person- 
aUties. 

167 



168 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

3. The Federal Government deals with a State in terms of the con- 
ditions within that particular State and not in terms of the United 
States as a whole. This is possible through the provisions of the Act 
which provide for standards but do not specify such standards in 
terms of equipment, courses of study, or other uniform requirements for 
the country at large. This cooperation of the Federal Government 
with the States in the promotion of vocational education is based upon 
four fundamental ideas: 

(1) That vocational education being essential to the national wel- 

fare, it is a function of tlie National Government to stimulate 
the States to undertake this new and needed form of service. 

(2) That federal funds are necessary in order to equalize the burden 

of carrying on the work among the States. 

(3) That since the Federal Government is vitally interested in the 

success of vocational education, it should, so to speak, pur- 
chase a degree of participation in this work. 

(4) That only by creating such a relationship between the Federal 

and th(; State Governments can proper standards of educa- 
tional efficiency be set up. (lb) 

Origin. The Land Grant Act (called the Morrill Act) was 
preceded by a period of agitation. Memorials, resolutions and 
propaganda now almost lost sight of, found ultimate expression 
in the bill finally passed by Congress during 18G2. Similarly, 
there was a ten-year period of determined agitation preceding 
the Smith-Highes Act. Not many of the resolutions passed by 
various organizations bore explicit reference to the Smith- 
Hughes Bill, but scores of resolutions indorsed by various or- 
ganizations voiced a demand for vocational educa,tion of lower 
than college grade or gave direct support to the various prede- 
cessors of the Smith-Hughes Bill. In 1912 the United States 
Education Report contained the statement: "The press fairly 
teems with editorial and signed articles, which indicate an over- 
whelming sentiment in favor of enlarging and extending the 
scope of education in this country to include the training of the 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 169 

great mass of our workers for wage-earning occupations of 
every kind." In behalf of this cause industrial, commercial, 
education, and social organizations gave support by either reso- 
lutions or activities. The Report lists the following among the 
organizations referred to: 

National Education Association. 

National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. 

National Metal Trades Association. 

National Association of Manufacturers. 

American Federation of Labor. 

National Child Labor Committee. 

National Committee on Prison Labor, 

American Association for I^abor Legislation. 

American Society for the Prevention and Study of Infant Morality. 

Southern Commercial Congress. 

Southern Educational Association. 

General Federation of Women's Clubs. 

United Textile Workers of America. 

American Society of Equity. 

National Farmers ' Grange. 

National Farmers ' Congress. 

Department of Superintendence, National Education Association. 

International Congress of Farm Women. 

American Foundrymen's Association. 

National Domestic Science Association. 

National Committee on Agricultural Education. 

American Education and Cooperative Farmers ' Union. 

Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America. 

The National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Edu- 
cation. The movement culminating in the passage of the 
Smith-Hughes Act had been stimulated by the propaganda of 
the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Educa- 
tion. The Smith-Hughes Act crystallized in legal form the 
primary motive of the first decade of the Society's existence — 
"a period of propaganda to awaken this country to the need for 



170 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

secondary vocational training supported by public money and 
maintained under public control." The National Society for 
the Promotion of Industrial Education was organized in 1906 
in response to the recognized need for industrial education in 
America. Its membership and boards included industrial and 
commercial managers, labor leaders, educators, and public 
men. It conducted a vigorous propaganda by means of bulle- 
tins and by offering its facilities as a clearing house for various 
achievements and experiments in vocational education, and 
by making expert knowledge available to all who are interested 
in this new and complex problem. Twelve annual gatherings 
of business men, investigators, labor men, and educators, nour- 
ished public appreciation of the need of vocational education of 
certain kinds. Largely owing to the efforts of members of the 
National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 
Congress authorized the appointment of the Commission on 
National Aid to Vocational Education. It speaks strongly for 
the high-power efficiency of the Society, as well as for the ur- 
gency of the cause, that a society of not more than 1700 mem- 
bers should have proved to be so powerful in influencing the edu- 
cational legislation of a nation of one hundred millions. (10) 

Its successor. On February 23, 1918, a "Committee on 
Future Policy" of the Society brought in a report changing the 
name of the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial 
Education to the National Society for Vocational Education, 
which report was adopted with amendments. It is not to be 
assumed that the activities of the groups backing both the old 
and the new societies have not encountered criticism. Professor 
Charles H. Judd of the University of Chicago wrote these 
comments after the February (1918) meeting: 

The change in name is significant for two reasons. First, the period 
of "promoting" industrial education is believed by the members of the 
Society to be over. With the organization of a Federal Board for In- 
dustrial Education the first aim and purpose of the Society has been 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 171 

achieved. Secondly, the term "industrial education" is too narrow 
to describe the interests which now ask for recognition. There are 
commercial interests, agricultural interests, home economic interests, 
as well as the narrow interests of the industrial schools and of trade 
schools. So the name is to be changed and the scope of the Society- 
is to be much enlarged. . . . 

The present writer has repeatedly stated in the pages of this Journal 
that in liis judgment any move which tends to set up in America a 
group of people or a group of schools which are intent on industrial 
education to the exclusion of general education is dangerous to de- 
mocracy. ... No such scheme is possible in this country as exists 
in Prussia, of a dual school system. . . . The new Society ought, in 
the opinion of the present writer, to put away the fundamentally 
wrong attitude of the old Society. Vocational education is not a thing 
apart. It can flourish only when it becomes a part of our national 
system. There is something larger than vocational education; it is 
American education. The new Society was perhaps wise in reconsider- 
ing its action; perhaps not. One thing is certain — it will make the 
mistake of its young life if it attempts a policy of separatism in educa- 
tion. With best wishes for wisdom to the leaders of the new organiza- 
tion and for the carrying forward in a more democratic way of a work 
which up to this time has been relatively narrow in purpose and highly 
restricted in its control, this Journal pledges its support to the new 
venture just in so far as the Society cultivates the most intimate re- 
lations possible between vocational education and general education. (5) 

Predecessors of the Act. As in the case of the Morrill Act, 
before the Smith-Hughes Act there were also many abortive 
attempts at similar legislation. For example, there were: The 
Davis Bill of 1907, the Davis-Dolliver Bill of 1910, the Mc- 
kinley Bill of 1911, the Lever Bill of 1911, the Overman Bill 
of 1911, the Page Bill of 1912, all of which failed of passage. 
The Act finally passed was fathered by Senator Hoke Smith and 
Representative Dudley M. Hughes, both of the State of Georgia. 
It should be noted that it was a period of increasing war-tension 
at the time when the Smith-Hughes Bill was passed in an 



172 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

amended form, and approved. Changes were made in the 
original Bill before its final passage. The Bill originally rec- 
ommended by the Federal Commission (H. R. 16952, Smith- 
Hughes Bill) provided in Section 6 that the United States 
Commissioner of Education should be the executive officer 
of the Board, which Board was to consist of the Postmaster 
General, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agri- 
culture, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Labor, 
one of its members to be elected Chairman. The Bill as amended 
in conference and finally passed (S. 703) provides in Section 6 
that the "Commissioner of Education may make such recom- 
mendations to the Board relative to the administration of 
this Act as he may from time to time deem advisable." The 
membership or personnel of the Board was also radically 
modified. 

Text of the Smith-Hughes Act. At this point the student 
should read and study each of the eighteen sections of the text 
of the Act. (13) This may be found in the Appendix. He may 
then profitably write a brief abstract containing the essential 
points of each section, and formulate a tentative interpreta- 
tion of his own for each section of the Act. The first published 
bulletin of the Federal Board for Vocational Education was a 
statement of policies, which, it is stated, was to be regarded as 
preliminary and tentative, since sufficient time had not yet 
elapsed to permit the Federal Board to view the problems of 
administration from every possible angle. Bulletin I also con- 
tained the text of the Act. Subsequent experience of the Federal 
Board made necessary additional interpretations and formula- 
tions of policy, statements of which are contained in the Second 
Annual Report. (lb) 

To facilitate understanding of the Act, the Board made two 
series of statements in order to bring out the distinctions be- 
tween the (1) mandatory obligations imposed by the Smith- 
Hughes Act upon the Federal Board, upon the states, upon the 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 173 

Secretary of the Treasury, upon the State Treasurers, upon 
State Boards, and concerning expenditure of appropriations, 
and (2) provisions where discretion and judgment are allowed to 
the Federal Board. The student should procure and study the 
original statements of policies for a full understanding of the 
operation of the Smith-Hughes Act. 

Mandatory provisions. The mandatory provisions are, of 
course, included in the Act itself, although an analysis prepared 
by the Board was designed to make these obligations stand out 
clearly as affecting the Federal Board, State Boards, State 
Treasurers, etc. (3) 

Discretionary provisions. The range of matters depending 
chiefly upon the discretion and judgment of the Board was wide, 
as will be indicated by the following memoranda of certain 
points referred to in the aforesaid first interpretations of the 
Federal Board. (Supra, pp. 20-48.) Although the interpre- 
tations were tentative, these first reactions will be of some per- 
manent interest to the student of education. 

Federal Board reserves right to judge arrangement made with each 
State, (p. 17, Bulletin 1) ; determines duration of agreement between 
States and the Board, (Sec. 6 of Act, and p. 18, Bulletin 1); reserves 
the right to inspect local institutions, but will deal only with State 
Boards, (p. 18, Bulletin 1); decides when funds may be withheld, 
(Sees. 15, 16, 17, of Act, Bulletin 1, p. 19); decides whether privately 
owned equipment may be utiUzed, (pp. 19-20, Bulletin 1); prescribes 
in detail the nature of the reports on finance and work of schools, to 
be furnished by State Boards, (pp. 20-21, Bulletin 1); devises the 
methods of ascertaining annually whether the States discharge their 
responsibility, (Sec. 5 of Act, Bulletin 1, pp. 22, 23); exercises discre- 
tion in permitting mixed classes with some pupils under 14 years of 
age who are "competent to do work designed for those who are 14," 
(Sees. 10 and 11, pp. 23-24, Bulletin 1); defines methods of prorating 
salaries of teachers, (Sees. 9, 10, 11, 12, Bulletin 1, pp. 24-25); de- 
fines rules for divorcement of teacher-training classes and of secondary 
classes using federal funds, (Bulletin 1, p. 26); advises concerning con- 



174 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

trol of supervisors loaned by institutions to State, (Bulletin 1, pp. 27- 
28) ; advises against expenditure of federal money in few rather than 
in many schools, (Bulletin 1, p. 29); may accept different standards for 
colored and for white schools, (Bulletin 1, p. 30); does not approve of 
use of federal money for instruction designed for benefit of delinquent, 
dependent, incorrigible, defective, or otherwise subnormal youths or 
adults, (Sees. 10, 11, Bulletin 1, p. 30); advises with regard to mean- 
ing of "well-rounded courses of study," (Sec. 9 of Act, Bulletin 1, 
pp. 30-34) ; advises that States may accept one or several funds either 
through Legislature or the State Board, (Sec. 5 of Act, Bulletin 1, pp. 
34-35) ; decides that federal moneys for teacher-training can only be 
used for separate, not for mixed classes, the full course of which must 
be approved, (Sec. 8 of Act, Bulletin 1, pp. 35, 36); interprets the Act 
to exclude payment of federal funds for the teaching of commercial 
subjects in all-day industrial schools, but permits the same in part- 
time schools. The Act also provides for research in commercial sub- 
jects, (Sees. 1, 6, 7 of Act, Bulletin 1, pp. 36, 57). 

In addition to the above examples illustrative of the de- 
mands upon the discretion and judgment of the Federal Board 
in interpreting and administering the Smith-Hughes Act, there 
remain other cases in point. These cases concern special ques- 
tions in agricultural education, in industrial education, and in 
home economics. 

Evaluation of the Smith-Hughes Act 

A war measure? During unprecedented times in the history 
of our country, less than two months before the entrance of 
the United States into the greater war in order to help "make 
the world safe for Democracy" — the Smith-Hughes Act was 
passed by both House and Senate, and it received the approval 
of President Woodrow Wilson on February 23, 1917. tn times 
of peace this measure would have been a remarkable step toward 
extending national aid to the support of secondary education. 
In this critical year it was peculiarly an opportune movement, 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 175 

because of both our demonstrated need of industrially trained 
men and women, and also our want of facilities for training 
men and women vocationally. (1) 

Criticisms. Teachers and citizens need not be without 
knowledge or voice in the matter of future national legislation 
affecting education in the states. In order that the student 
may be aided in the attempt not only to appreciate the excellent 
features of the Smith-Hughes Act, but also to appraise justly 
its defects, we cite herewith typical contemporary criticisms 
{a,b,c,d,e,f,g). 

(a) The Carnegie Bulletin. One of the severest criticisms and 
most pessimistic views with regard to both the Federal Com- 
mission, and the Smith-Hughes Act, is contained in a report of 
the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, e. g. : 

It is essential that such a revolutionary measure (The Smith-Hughes 
Act) be considered from all angles. The one large experiment in the 
provision of federal support fqr education, the Morrill and supple- 
mentary acts, failed for nearly four years, and the failure was due to 
the absence of an educational policy. Only when the States really 
took up the objects, and only when a general social demand arose, was 
success possible. However sound the theoretical arguments for voca- 
tional education may be, all the arguments adduced by the Vocational 
Education Commission or the supporters of the federal aid bills in 
behalf of federal aid could be applied with equal weight to any other 
department of education or social activity. The need of education, 
the extensiveness of the problem, the mobility of population, the need 
of trained teachers, and the need of a central information bureau are 
all reasons that could be applied equally in support of any other kind 
of claim on the federal treasury. Of much greater importance than the 
unsoundness of these claims is the absence of an educational policy 
underlying this type of legislation. There has been sufficient piece- 
meal tinkering with educational problems. Federal interference to- 
gether with an attempt to patch up a small part of the whole simply 
perpetuates a system that is failing because there is no sound, unifying 
principle to vitalize the whole body of educational practice. The prob- 



176 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

lem of vocational education cannot be treated in isolation; if it has any 
place at all, it must be made a part of the general organization. The 
experts have not yet arrived at any unanimity on the subject of voca- 
tional education. In fact, while the experts in general and vocational 
education have been discovering the very grave difficulties underlying 
the problem and are less able to present a policy now than they were 
five years ago, the federal legislators are still discussing the merits 
of a measure framed, in outline at least, in 1911, and going back in 
principle to the act of 1862. During this period a new problem has 
come prominently to the front involving a drastic change in the con- 
ceptions and administration of the education of adolescents. Educa- 
tional surveys are only just beginning to apply real tests to present 
systems and to formulate the results. . . . 

The Act itself presumes to settle a question that is far from being 
settled: it divides up the educational process; it would probably sanc- 
tion the establishment of dual boards for educational control, with a 
federal board as a third authority supervising these; it fails to set up a 
successful machinery to supervise the expenditure of funds, since the 
members of the proposed federal board could devote only a fraction of 
their time and interest to the subject; it would create in each state con- 
flicting interests between institutions, and set up agents with divided 
allegiance. The Act attempts to legislate for the country as a whole. 
But the situation with regard to agriculture and trades and industries 
varies so widely in the separate States that each State has a problem 
of its own, and legislation which might be good for one State might be 
wholly unsuited to another. It is true that the Act permits each state 
board to draw up its own plan, subject to the approval of the federal 
board. Such a provision might serve some purpose if all the States had 
reached the same educational standards, but they have not. Before 
any money is appropriated for industrial education by Congress, there 
should be a thoroughgoing study of present conditions to show the 
present situation and present needs. To legislate without a more 
thorough consideration of the whole subject than the examination by 
an ex parte commission of ex parte witnesses is to legislate in the dark 
But even such an investigation could prove only the need or otherwise 
of vocational education, not the advisability of federal aid. The only 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 177 

genuine desire to promote educational progress, would be a bill author- 
izing the appropriation of a sum of money to be placed at the disposal 
of the Commissioner of Education for the purposes of conducting 
educational enquiries and collecting and distributing information. 
This can be done effectually by endowing the educational authority 
with a position of dignity and influence. What the country needs at 
the present moment in education is the guidance of the expert. Edu- 
cational progress, especially in a country of such varied conditions as 
the United States, can be advanced only by experimental solutions 
demanded by these conditions; diversity rather than uniformity is a 
greater guarantee for the future. The development of the land grant 
colleges indicates that state generosity is not stimulated merely by a 
federal bounty. There are other and more pressing questions relating 
to the general system of education that demand attention ; to these the 
states are addressing themselves. Vocational education will be taken 
up by the States as soon as educators and others can come forward with 
a policy. (6) 

(6) National Education Association. The Department of 
Superintendence, National Education Association, has ex- 
pressed objection to the provision of Section 5 of the Act, 
which makes possible the creation either of a unit or of a dual 
system of control within each state. The recommendation of 
the Department was probably aimed at Section 5 of the Act 
which permits a state either "to designate or create a State 
Board." The effect of this phrase is to make possible a dual 
system such as existed during 1918 in the State of Wisconsin. 
The Department of Superintendence passed this resolution 
along with certain others during February, 1918: 

We recommend that the Smith-Hughes law be so amended by Con- 
gress as to prevent the possibility of the creation of a dual system of 
education in any State. All acts appropriating money for the advance- 
ment of education in the States should place the administration in the 
hands of the commissioners of education and the chief school officers 
in the various States. (8) 



178 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

(c) Personnel of the Board. It was claimed that it is futile 
to hold that the Secretaries of Commerce, Labor, and Agri- 
culture would spend much time sitting with the Federal Board. 
The Commissioner of Education also was a busy man. Most 
ex-oflficio boards suffer from the fact that their members al- 
ready have enough to do if they discharge well the duties of 
their chief offices. If the three Secretaries should spend all 
of their time with the Board, there is nothing in the qualifi- 
cations demanded by the Act which would prevent in the future 
their being amateurs in education, yet possibly filled with the 
assurance of men successful in other lines of endeavor. 

(d) Incoordination of government effort. The humble official 
rank of our United States Bureau of Education, its insufficient 
financial support, and its honorable and useful record, and also 
the overlapping of its reasonable functions by the new Chil- 
dren's Bureau and by other federal undertakings in education, 
have long made some kind of change desirable. The creation 
of the Federal Board for Vocational Education was followed 
by remarkable promptness of organization and efficiency in 
execution upon the part of the Board. Nevertheless, there 
remained lamentable lack of coordination, and a duplication, in 
the various educational efforts long maintained by the Federal 
Government — as witness the moneys and labor expended in 
behalf of education through the Departments of the Interior, 
of Commerce and Labor, and of Agriculture, and in the Army 
and in the Navy. We refer not to the indispensable emerg- 
ency work incident to the War, but to conditions existing prior 
to 1914 and in 1919. That some duplication and lack of co- 
ordination is productive of waste is inevitable. There are 
those also who view with alarm the tendency "to run to the 
Federal Treasury for every need." 

(e) The problem of discretionary interpretation. A danger is 
that future boards, or executives, may err in the exercise of 
discretionary powers. Discretion, in contrast to mandatory 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 179 

direction, e. g., may be exercised by the Federal Board in scores 
of important matters. These discretionary powers we have 
already referred to in preceding paragraphs. Probably as much 
potential good as error inheres in the necessary exercise of dis- 
cretion and judgment upon the part of the Federal Board. 

(/) Professional representation of education. John Dewey 
has voiced the complaint of inadequate representation of edu- 
cation on the Federal Board, thus: 

At the present moment, (March, 1917) the first bill appropriating 
federal funds for industrial education in schools below the grade of the 
college of agriculture and mechanic arts has been passed by the two 
houses of Congress. So far as provisions for the representation of 
employers and employed is concerned, the act is a fair one. So far as 
the interest of education is concerned, the representation of educators 
is scandalously inadequate. As passed, the original bill, which safe- 
guarded unified control on the part of the States which take advantage 
of federal financial aid has been changed so as to make a dual scheme 
optional with each State. I do not say these things to cast any dis- 
credit on the act. I refer to them only to indicate that the passage 
of the bill illustrates the whole situation in which we find ourselves. 
It settles no problem; it merely sjanbolizes the inauguration of a con- 
flict between irreconcilably opposed educational and industrial ideals. 
Nothing is so necessary as that public-spirited representatives of 
the pubUc educational interest, such as are gathered here tonight, 
shall perceive the nature of the issue and throw their weight in munici- 
pal, state and federal educational matters, upon the side of education 
rather than of training, on that of democratic rather than that of feudal 
control of industry. (2) 

(g) A new department. There were persons who believed that 
the functions of the Federal Board, put into operation by the 
enterprise of Charles A. Prosser and his colleagues, might 
be administered safely and economically in the future by a 
United States Department of Education, of equal rank with 
the Departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Labor, Com- 
merce, War, Navy, etc. This Department, it was urged, con- 



180 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

ceivably might administer all national funds for education under 
safe-guarding restrictions to help and stimulate local effort, 
without undertaking autocratic control interfering with the 
needs and the rights of States. It should not be forgotten, 
however, that our educational ills can not be solved merely 
by legislating into existence any central board or department, 
or by creating new, expensive jobs. Potential dangers along 
with potential benefits inhere in the establishment of any cen- 
tralized federal authority in education, be it board or depart- 
ment. 

A modification of the Smith-Towner bill was introduced 
at the opening of the special session of the Sixty-sixth Congress 
on May 19, 1919, by Congressman Towner of Iowa. (H. R. 7.) 
This excellent bill made possible the creation of an executive 
department in the Government, as the following excerpts show : 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby created 
an executive department in the Government, to be called the Depart- 
ment of Education, with a Secretary of Education, who shall be the 
head thereof, to be appointed by the President, by and with the ad- 
vice and consent of the Senate, and who shall receive a salary of twelve 
thousand dollars ($12,000) per annum, and whose tenure of office 
shall be the same as that of the heads of other executive departments; 

Sec. 2. That there shall be in said department an Assistant Secretary 
of Education to be appointed by the President, who shall receive a 
salary of five thousand dollars ($5,000) per annum. He shall perform 
such duties as may be prescribed by the Secretary or required by law. 
There shall also be one chief clerk and such chiefs of bureaus and cleri- 
cal assistants as may from time to time be authorized by Congress. 

Sec. 3. That there is hereby transferred to the Department of 
Education the Bureau of Education, and the President is authorized 
and empowered in his discretion to transfer to the Department of 
Education such offices, bureaus, divisions, boards or branches of the 
Government, connected with or attached to any of the executive de- 
partments or organized independently of any department, as in his 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 181 

judgment should be controlled by, or the functions of which should be 
exercised by, the Department of Education, and all such offices, 
bureaus, divisions, boards or branches of the Government so trans- 
ferred by the President, or by act of Congress, shall thereafter be ad- 
ministered by the Department of Education, as hereinafter provided. 

The bill also proposed to appropriate $500,000 for adminis- 
trative purposes; and $100,000,000 to the States, to be divided 
as follows: Removal of illiteracy, $7,500,000; Americaniza- 
tion, $7,500,000; equalization of educational opportunities, 
$50,000,000; physical education, health education, and sanita- 
tion, $20,000,000; preparation of teachers, $15,000,000. 

Merits of the Act. Waiving all questions of the origin of the 
Act, it appears plain that it was an achievement toward uni- 
veral education — an achievement, however, encompassed by 
potential dangers, which we now see more clearly than before 
the World War, for few men of intelligence have not attempted 
some mental reconstruction since the challenging events of the 
World War. The outcome of Prussianized civilization with 
its exalted system of educational efficiency has forced us to 
destroy some of our idols. We are chiefly concerned with con- 
serving our education for democracy, and therefore school- 
men as a mass need be vigilant to judge and to rout any taint 
that appears in educational legislation. On the other hand 
it is not quite absurd to believe that some little of the abuse of 
the Smith-Hughes Act emanated from pro-German sources. 
It was a good thing for the enemy or his friends that o\u people 
should be deceived about any measure promising greater 
efficiency to us, and there was also that bubbling dissatisfac- 
tion which comes from a minority type of American citizen 
who will deride any governmental activity whatsoever which 
does not invariably accord with his own partisan politics. 

The sterling merits of the Act, because of the emergency for 
which it was enacted and because of the general objects achieved, 
(p. 168) outweighed its defects and inherent dangers. During 



182 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

the first two years of its existence remarkable progress was 
made by the Federal Board in stimulating every State of the 
Union to a new interest and activity with regard to secondary 
vocational education. During that time more than two score 
monographs and bulletins of direct application to the problems 
of vocational education were prepared and issued by the re- 
search workers of the Federal Board. State organizations were 
effected with amazing promptness, provisions made for teacher- 
training and actual courses started over all the country. By 
January 1, 1918, all of our 48 States accepted the Smith-Hughes 
Act either by specific provisions of the legislatures or by au- 
thority of the governors. The table on page 183 shows num- 
bers of pupils enrolled in classes supported in part under the 
Smith-Hughes Act at the end of the second year of the Board's 
work. 

Even enthusiasts for the Act did not assert its perfection. 
E. g., Director Frosser in speaking before the National Society 
for the Promotion of Industrial Education said in 1917: "I do 
not beheve that the Smith-Hughes Bill is the last hour on the 
clock. I do not believe it strikes High Noon. I think it is only 
a way-mark along the road. I think that before we settle this 
problem we will have to assert the right of the State to take 
charge of the whole question of the training of its workmen and 
if you say that it is German autocracy, I say to you that it is 
possible to maintain that sort of procedure and that sort of 
autocracy within that splendid thing you call a Democracy. "(12) 

The Act is so far reaching that it of course represents some 
marked changes in educational policies. Bawden observes: 

As an expression of educational policy, the new Act embodied some 
important departures from previous legislation. It made provision 
for the training within the schools of a large group of our population 
unreached directly by the Federal Government. On the other hand, 
by offering instruction along vocational lines and of subcoUegiate grade, 
it supplemented the Morrill Act, the expressed purpose of which was to 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 



183 



TABLE IX 

Statistics op Vocational Schools and op Vocational Teacher-tkaining Centers 
FOR the Year ended June 30, 1918 



Type of school, center, or course, sex, 
class of State director or supervisor, 
and source of salary 



Total . 



Agricultural school. 
Trade or industrial: 

All-day school . 

Evening school . 
Home economics: 

All-day school. . 

Evening school . 
Part-time school . . . 



Agricultural 

Trade or industrial . 
Home economics . . . 



Total, both sexes ' . 



Agricultural school. . 
Trade or industrial 

All-day school. . 

Evening school. 
Home economics: 

All-day school. . 

Evening school. 
Part-time school . . . 



Total, male. 



Agricultural school. 
Trade or industrial: 

All-day school. 

Evening school. 
Home economics: 

All-day school. 

Evening school. 
Part-time school. . . . 



Total, female. 



Agricultural 

Trade or industrial; 

All-day school. 

Evening school- 
Home economics: 

All-day school. 

Evening school. 
Part-time school 



United 

States 



Region 



North 
Atlantic 



Southern 



East 
Central 



West lp„„:e„ 
Centralj^^"''"' 



Number of schools reporting vocational courses 



1,741 



609 

168 
299 

200 
123 
341 



794 


285 


423 


92 


166 


200 


159 


45 


71 
104 


33 
125 


6 
24 


6 
12 


102 
76 

275 


24 
10 
10 


34 
35 
37 


25 
1 
3 



147 

39 

41 
35 

15 
1 

16 



Number of centers reporting teacher-training 
courses 


40 

45 
60 


8 
20 
12 


9 

6 

13 


11 

7 
11 


7 

5 

12 


5 

7 
12 


Number of pupils enrolled in vocational courses 



164,186 



15,187 

18,528 
45,985 

8,333 
22,360 
53,005 



100,760 



13,901 

14,645 
39,580 

25 

4 

32,605 



62,941 



1,286 

3,883 
6,708 

8,308 
22,356 
20,400 



3,649 

13,039 
23,196 

4,186 
15,270 
45,373 



60,825 



3,569 



10,639 

18,428 



4 
28,185 



44,191 



80 

2,400 
5,071 

4,186 
15,266 
17,188 



9,476 



4,648 

664 
1,694 

890 
1,133 

447 



6,119 



3,922 



399 
1,604 



25 
i69 



3,357 



726 

265 
90 

865 
1,133 

278 



37,145 



4,681 

3,582 
14,931 

1,801 
5,752 
6,398 



24,307 



4,247 



2,489 
13,451 



12,838 



434 

1,093 
1,480 

1,801 
5,762 
2,278 



4,669 



921 



62 
2,295 



753 
55 



3,262 



880 



62 
2,272 



23 

753 
55 
50 



7,880 



1,288 

1,181 
3,869 

703 
150 
689 



6,247 



1,283 



1,056 
3,825 



1,633 

5 

125 
44 

703 
150 
606 



1 Includes 485 pupils not classified by sex. 



184 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

maintain colleges ' to teach such branches of learning as are related to 
agriculture and the mechanic arts ... in order to promote the liberal 
and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits 
and professions of life.' On the other hand, since it contemplated a 
system of training in the schools, it also supplemented the Agricultural 
Extension Act of 1914, in which the service provided was "the giving of 
instruction and practical demonstrations in agriculture and home 
economics to persons not attending or resident in State colleges in the 
several communities." Since it imposed definite requirements as to 
the training of teachers, it also represented a material extension of au- 
thority over the purely permissive provisions of the Nelson amend- 
ment of 1907.(16) 

The problem of future modification of the Act should be ap- 
proached understandingly and sympathetically by teachers 
and by citizens. Opponents of progress in education who con- 
sistently try to block efforts at change, should not be permitted 
to make undue capital of the objections illustrated in the above 
list. Many of the defects are remediable. One explanation of 
the separatist attitude of some friends of vocational education 
is their pessimism in awakening a certain type of academic to 
the urgent needs of the majority of our beginning pupils, eighty 
or ninety per cent, of whom will never pass through a high 
school. Evil results conceivable under the Act might come 
through abuse, ignorance, or unintentional error upon the part 
of the Federal Board and its officers who are intrusted with the 
heavy responsibilities of administering the Smith-Hughes Act. 
However, hardly any public trust imposed by democracy carries 
solely possible good without potential evil. Necessary modifi- 
cations of the Act, and publicity, research, the rise of intelli- 
gence and education, and pounding away to perpetuate the 
simple, ethical, idealism of our American fathers at its best — 
these are trustworthy safeguards. 

Allotments to the States. As indicated in Table X allot- 
ments under the Smith-Hughes Act increase annually until 



TABLE X 

Annual Grants by the Federal Government for Vocational Education under 
THE Smith-Hughes Act approved Feb. 23, 1917 





Total 


Agriculture: For salaries of 
teachers, supervisors, and 
directors. (Seo. 2.) 


Fiscal year ending June 30 — 


Total 


Allotted 

on basis 

of rural 

population 


Additional 
to provide 
minimum 
allotments 
to States 


1917-18 


$1,860,000 
2,512,000 
3,182,000 
3,836,000 
4,329,000 
4,823,000 
5,318,000 
6,380,000 
7,367,000 
7,367,000 


$548,00 
784,000 
1,024,000 
1,268,000 
1,514,000 
1,761,000 
2,009,000 
2,534,000 
3,027,000 
3,027,000 


$500,000 
750,000 
1,000,000 
1,250,000 
1,500,000 
1,750,000 
2,000,000 
2,500,000 
3,000,000 
3,000,000 


$48,000 
34,000 
24,000 
18,000 
14,000 
11,000 
9,000 
34,000 
27,000 
27,000 


1918-19 


1919-20 


1920-21 


1921-22 


1922-23 


1923-24 


1924-25 


1925-26 









Trade, home economics and industry: For 
salaries of teacher.?. (Sec. 3.) • 


Fiscal year ending June 30 — 


Total 


Allotted 

on basis 

of urban 

population 


Additional 
to provide 
allotments 
to States 


1917-18 


$566,000 
796,000 
1,034,000 
1,278,000 
1,525,000 
1,772,000 
2,019,000 
2,.556,000 
3,050,000 
3,050,000 


$500,000 
750,000 
1,000,000 
1,250,000 
1,500,000 
1,750,000 
2,000,000 
2,500,000 
3,000,000 
3,000,000 


$66,000 
46,000 
34,000 
28,000 
25,000 
22,000 
19,000 
56,000 
50,000 
50,000 


1918-19 


1919-20 


1920-21 


1921-22 


1922-23 


1923-24 


1924-25 


1925-26 







Fiscal year ending June 30 — 


Teacher training: For salar- 
ies of teachers, and main- 
tenance of teacher training. 
(Sec. 4.) 


For 

Federal 

Board for 

Vocational 

Education 

(Sec. 7.) 


Total 


Allotted 

on basis 

of total 

population 


Additional 
to provide 
minimum 
allotments 
to State 


1917-18 


$546,000 
732,000 
924,000 
1,090,000 
1,090,000 
1,090,000 
1,090,000 
1,090,000 
1,090,000 
1,090,000 
1,090,000 


$500,000 
700,000 
900,000 
1,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,000,000 
1,000,000 


$46,000 
32,000 
24,000 
90,000 
90,000 
90,000 
90,000 
90,000 
90,000 
90,000 
90,000 


f 900 000 


1918-19 


200,000 
200,000 
200 000 


1919-20 


1920-21 


1921-22 


200,000 
200,000 
200,000 
200,000 
200,000 
200,000 
200 000 


1922-23 


1923-24 


1924-25 


1925-26 


1925-26 









' Not over 20 per cent for salaries of teachers of home economics. 

185 



186 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

1926. Appropriations for teachers of agriculture, trade, home 
economics, and industrial subjects increase some 600 per cent, 
within that period, for teacher-training, about 200 per cent. 

Additional obligations. Since the passage of the Smith- 
Hughes Act, Congress created another law, the execution of 
which brought an additional power and obligation to the Federal 
Board. This law is known as the Smith-Sears Act, and its pur- 
pose was to provide for the vocational rehabilitation and return 
to civil employment of disabled persons discharged from the 
military or naval forces of the United States, and for other 
purposes. Enlargement of the number of executives, under the 
control of the Federal Board, and a reorganization of its labors 
were made necessary. The activities of the Board therefore may 
be roughly classified into three groups: (1) Administration of 
the Smith-Hughes Act; (2) administration of the Smith-Sears 
Act; (3) investigations, reports, — research. 

War and Progress 

Accelerated development. In a biennial survey of the two 
years 1917 and 1918 by the Bureau of Education the statement 
was made that it is probably conservative to say "that the 
tangible results accomplished in vocational education during 
this period equal those of any decade preceding." 

Fourteen factors in rapid development. The same review, 
which was written by William T. Bawden, sets forth fourteen 
factors of this rapid development, which we mention in abbre- 
viated form: 

(1) Culmination of campaigns for Smith-Hughes Act. 

(2) Gigantic experiments in training "fighting mechanics" 
by the Committee on Education and Special Training of the 
War Department. 

(3) Training of skilled workers by the Emergency Fleet Cor- 
poration of the United States Shipping Board. 

(4) Plans, conferences, constructive programs, contributed 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 187 

by various agencies, including : Navy Department, Department 
of Labor, Council of National Defense, International Young 
Men's Christian Association, United States Bureau of Educa- 
tion. 

(5) Unprecedented reliance upon the machinery of popular 
education — a new conception of the relation between education 
and national achievement. 

(6) Public discussion of vocational education. 

(7) Scrutiny and appraisement of existing school programs. 

(8) General diffusion of the idea that secondary education 
must be adapted for actual needs of persons of about 12 to 18 
years of age, rather than only for persons who have completed 
certain prearranged "grades" and hence there has come new 
interest in junior high schools, continuation and cooperative 
schools, and vocational guidance. 

(9) Recognition of need of preparation for teaching voca- 
tional subjects. 

(10) War called attention to the fact that nothing adequate 
had taken place of apprenticeship. 

(11) Shortcomings appeared in the failures to coordinate 
compulsory-education legislation, child-labor legislation, and 
vocational education legislation. 

(12) Manual training gravitated toward actual shop and 
industrial work. 

(13) The volume and quality of books on vocational educa- 
tion increased. 

(14) A numerous official personnel along with the multi- 
plication of vocational classes and schools came into existence 
during this period. (16) 

Summary 

1. The Smith-Hughes Act represented the culmination of a 
series of efforts for federal legislation for education. It is 
the most specific act of its kind passed by Congress. Its 



188 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

origin is found in pressing economic and social needs, in 
the evolution from preceding measures of like nature, and 
its passage was facilitated by various propaganda. 

2. The eighteen sections of the Act demand intensive, separate 

consideration of the student, since the administration of 
the Act is deeply complicated by existing customs and laws 
within the States. 

3. Criticisms of the Act found considerable solid ground of objec- 

tion, although the great merits and results of the Act de- 
manded its support by progressive school men, even if 
modifications in the law ultimately were found to be 
necessary. 

4. Interpretations and policies as promulgated by the Federal 

Board present inevitable difficulties of adjustment that 
will recur. A serious undertaking will be the exercise by 
the Federal Board of sane and equitable judgment or 
discretion concerning a wide range of issues which are 
left open and concerning which legal exactions are not 
plain, 

5. The organization of the first Federal Board was satisfactory 

in character, and the initial steps of administration and 
service were undertaken with remarkable promptness and 
energy. The stress of war-times increased the number of 
problems before the Board. 

6. Allotments of federal money to the States are on a progres- 

sively increasing scale until 1926, have been accepted 
under conditions of cooperation by all of the forty-eight 
States, and are a tremendous stimulus and aid to voca- 
tional education. 

7. The conditions of war have brought good along with evil. 

One benefit derived is remarkable stimulus to vocational 
education other than college grade. The factors in the ac- 
celerated progress of the war period were numerous and 
complex and the effect will probably be permanent. 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 189 

Problems 

1. Make a careful abstract of each section of the Smith-Hughes 

Act. Make the abstract as brief as possible, consistent 
with clearness. 

2. Make a statement naming consecutively the good points of 

the Smith-Hughes Act. 

3. What do you consider its most serious defects? 

4. Study in detail the operation, present or prospective, of the 

Act in your own community. 

5. After you have entirely finished the study of this chapter, 

try to draw up a bill, which you would substitute for the 
Smith-Hughes Act. 

6. State and compare merits of bill recommended by the 

Federal Commission, (vol. I, pp. 84-85, section 6), and 
of Smith-Hughes Act (Section 6) with reference to organi- 
zation and personnel of the Federal Boards provided. 

7. Sum up reasons for enlargement and better support of the 

United States Bureau of Education. 

8. Construct a table thus: Select twelve States, North, East, 

West, and South; write in, the amounts of money to 
be appropriated to each State from the Federal Govern- 
ment under the Smith-Hughes Law, during the next 
eight years; in separate columns write the amounts 
respectively for payment of salaries of teachers of agri- 
culture, of home economics, and trade and industrial 
subjects; for training of teachers, etc.(l) 

9. What future dangers from partisan politics confront the 

operation of the Smith-Hughes Act, or a Department of 
Education, and how might such dangers be avoided? 

10. Prescribe the reasonable requirements or qualifications to 

be demanded of persons in charge of studies, investiga- 
tions, or researches authorized under Section 7 of the Act. 

11. Prescribe the (a) qualifications desirable, and (b) the amount 



190 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of time to be expended for the Federal Board upon the 
part of appointive members of the Federal Board. 

12. Show that the range of instruction, under the Smith-Hughes 

Act is relatively narrow in subjects allowed but extremely 
broad in application. 

13. Why did the Federal Commission recommend omission of 

provisions for salaries of teachers of commercial subjects? 
(See Report of Federal Commission, vol. I, p. 40; also 
Bulletin 1(3), p. 36). 

14. Ascertain to what extent cooperation is being effected be- 

tween the Federal Board, the Bureau of Education, and 
the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, and Labor, 
as provided in Section 6 of the Act. 

15. From governmental reports show where duplication of 

efforts for education exist, and where and how better co- 
ordination can be effected. 

16. Read Bawden's review, and then contrast the relative 

permanency and power of the fourteen factors enumerated 
as helping to promote sound vocational training in pub- 
lic education. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. (a) Annual Report (First) of the Federal Board for Vocational Educa- 

tion. Government Printing Office. 1917, 32 p. (6) Second Annual 
Report, do., 1918, 172 p. 

2. Dewey, John. Learning to Earn. School and Society, March 24, 1917, 

pp. 331-335. 

3. Federal Board for Vocational Education. Bulletin 1, 1917. Govern- 

ment Printing Office, Washington, 70 p. This important Bulletin 
contains the preliminary statements of policies of the Board in de- 
tail. Also, tables showing appropriations available; the Smith- 
Hughes Act, the supplementary Act of October 1917, and the anal- 
ysis of mandatory provisions, etc. 

4. House of Representatives Bill 5949. An Act supplementary to the 

Smith-Hughes Act, passed and approved in October 6, 1917. 

5. Judd, Charles H. Editorial in Elementary School Journal, March 

1918, pp. 482-484. Chicago, lU. 



DEVELOPMENT OF FEDERAL COOPERATION 191 

6. Kandel, I. L. Federal Aid for Vocational Education, Bulletin 10, 

1917, pp., 96-97. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement 
of Teaching. 

7. McVey, Frank L. Hearing before Federal Commission, April 20, 1914. 

Report of Federal Commission on National Aid to Vocational Educa- 
tion, 1914, V. II, pp. 128-143. 

8. National Educational Association, Department of Superintendence, 

Resolutions at Atlantic City Meeting, 1918. 

9. National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. What is 

the Smith-Hughes Bill and What Must a State Do to take Ad- 
vantage of the Federal Vocational Education Law? Bulletin 25, 
1917, 48 p. 

10. National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. Report 

of Committee on Future Policy. (Pamphlet) February 1918, 15 p. 

11. Pritchett, Henry S. In Carnegie Bulletin 10, 1917, pp. VI. 

12. Prosser, Charles A. Address before National Society for the Pro- 

motion of Industrial Education. Bulletin 24, 1917, of the Society. 
Pp. 76-81. 

13. Senate Bill 703. The Smith-Hughes Act as passed and approved on 

February 23, 1917. (See Appendix.) 

14. Senate Bill 4557. The Smith-Sears Act as passed and approved on 

June 27, 1918. (See Appendix.) 

15. Senate Bill 4987. Proposed Act to create a National Department of 

Education (October 10, 1918). 

16. Vocational Education. Biennial Survey. W. T. Bawden, U. S. Edu- 

cation Bulletin 25, 1919, 30 p. 

17. Vocational Summary. Published monthly by the Federal Board for 

Vocational Education. 1918 — . 



CHAPTER VII 
PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 

The Fields of Instruction: A major industry; agricultural education de- 
fined; agricultural industries. 

Elementary Agriculture: Growth of elementary instruction; the place 
of nature study; stimulating factors; school garden movement; agriculture 
for city boys; farm-craft lessons. 

Secondary Instruction: Characteristic questions; development; high 
school departments; special or separate schools; courses of study. 

Study and Teaching vs. Practice of Agriculture: Farming by graduates; 
college enrollment; theory and practice. 

The Machinery for Adequate Agricultural Education: A vertical view; an 
outline in detail of necessary means. 

Apphcations of the Smith-Hughes Law: Agricultural questions; dupli- 
cation; payment of directors and supervisors; club work; short courses; 
local distribution of funds; at least dollar for dollar; teaching versus super- 
vision; mixed classes; the training demanded. 

Pedagogical Problems: Preparation of teachers; a course for teachers; 
technic in teaching; project method; essentials of a home-project; distri- 
bution of projects; agricultural and liberal education; agriculture as therapy. 

Agricultural Education in Philanthropic and Other Institutions: Hamp- 
ton and Tuskegee; the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades; 
a specimen course; agriculture for delinquents and feeble-minded; agri- 
culture in other institutions. 

The Improvement of Rural Life: City and country interested; the ad- 
vocates. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

The Fields of Instruction 

A major industry. — The fact that so large a number of 
workers is found in the various activities of agriculture is of 
significance for vocational education. There are broadening 
and stimulating factors in agricultural arts education regard- 

192 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 193 

less of the vocation a person enters eventually. Vocational 
agricultural education is being taught successfully by many land 
grant colleges, and it is superfluous to-day to marshal arguments 
for the continuance of such instruction. A series of volumes 
could be written in order properly to present even the leading 
problems of agricultural education lower than college grade. 
We shall make no attempt in this introductory volume to cover 
these special fields, other than to present some significant data 
and questions and to indicate selected references bearing re- 
spectively upon elementary and secondary training in agricul- 
ture. The fact that the Smith-Hughes law applies to agricul- 
tural education as well as to education in industries and trades, 
home economics, and commerce, indicates that the Act is po- 
tentially broad in application. 

Agricultural education defined. On page 49 agricultural 
education has been defined both as vocational, or direct prepara- 
tion for occupations (such as those of the farmer, planter, dairy- 
man, stock raiser, poultry keeper, bee keeper, gardener, florist, 
nurseryman, etc.), and also as agricultural arts education (de- 
signed to enhance general intelligence, to promote appreciation 
of agriculture as a form of economic activity, to show practical 
application of sciences, and to inspire vocational ideals related 
to agriculture, etc.) 

Agricultural industries. The table on page 194 from the 
U. S. Census of 1910 (with an added estimate for homemakers, 
not included under ''gainful" occupations) displays the broad 
scope of agricultural industries. 

Elementary Agriculture 

Growth of elementary instruction. Instruction in the ele- 
ments of agriculture began early in European schools. The 
United States Bureau of Education has made available to the 
public interesting studies of agricultural education in Denmark, 
Russia, Ireland, and the PhiUppines. (49) In France by 1877 



194 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



TABLE XI 
Agricultural Workers in United States 



Occupation 



Total 



Male 



Female 



AH (gainful) occupations in 

United States 

Homemakers (estimated) 

Agriculture, forestry, and an- 
imal husbandry 

Dairy Farmers 

Dairy farm laborers 

Farmers 

Farm laborers 

Fisherman and oystermen 

Gardeners, florists, fruit growers, 
and nurserymen 

Garden, greenhouse, orchard, and 
nursery laborers 

Lumbermen, raftsmen, and wood- 
choppers 

Stockherders, drovers, and feeders 

Stock raisers 

All others in this division 



38,167,336 


30,091,564 


8,075,772 


22,000,000 




22,000,000 


12,659,203 


10,851,702 


1,807,501 


61,816 


59,240 


2,576 


35,014 


32,237 


2,777 


5,865,003 


5,607,297 


257,706 


5,975,057 


4,460,634 


1,514,423 


68,275 


67,799 


476 


139,255 


131,421 


7,834 


133,927 


126,453 


7,474 


161,266 


161,191 


77 


62,975 


62,090 


885 


52,521 


50,847 


1,674 


104,092 


92,493 


11,599 



every normal school and in 1882 every rural primary school 
was required to give place for the study of elementary agri- 
culture. By 1896 the courses were revised, made definite and 
practical. Before the World War agriculture was taught uni- 
versally in the primary schools of France. Belgium had one 
of the best systems of elementary agricultural instruction in 
Europe. In Sweden the elements of agriculture and forestry 
are taught in all rural schools. In Great Britain relatively 
little had been done before the War, but the English colonies- 
West Indies, Australia, Canada, provided for agricultural edu- 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 195 

cation in certain grades. Germany, Austria, and Switzerland 
developed special agricultural schools rather than general work 
in agriculture in elementary schools. 

The Fellenberg-Pestalozzian movement stimulated agri- 
cultural education both in Europe and in America. In America, 
however, numerous institutions at first embracing the idea of 
manual labor, early dropped this and agricultural training and 
became purely ''literary." Little was done in the United States 
toward instruction in elementary agriculture before 1900, but 
since 1905 rapid progress has been made. By October, 1908, 
agriculture had been added to the list of subjects to be taught 
in the common schools of Alabama, Arkansas, California, 
Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, North Caro- 
lina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Wis- 
consin. Agricultural colleges joined in the movement for the 
preparation of agricultural teachers— notably, Cornell Univer- 
sity, the University of Illinois, Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 
lege, and Ohio State University, cooperating with the United 
States Department of Agriculture. Boys' agricultural clubs 
and farmers' institutes have further helped on the good cause. 

During the years of the World War there were rapid developments 
favoring elementary instruction in agriculture in the United States. 
In Minnesota during 1918, school children to the number of 32,000 
were enrolled in home-project gardening. In California the State 
Board of Education passed a regulation relative to agricultural in- 
struction in normal schools, that students entering after June 30, 1919, 
one unit shall be required in manual training or household arts or both, 
and one unit in the elements of agriculture, including practical work 
in gardening, floriculture, and plant propagation. In Michigan, 
county normal training classes in agriculture grew to 53 in number. 
In Montana during 1918 a bill passed the legislature making agricul- 
ture a required subject in elementary schools. In Kansas the number 
of high schools giving teacher-training work in agriculture rose to 234 
in number. The general assembly of North Carolina created a com- 



196 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

mission to assist teachers in making agricultural work more practical. 
An act of the New York Legislature for 1917 provides for the employ- 
ment of "directors of agriculture in cities, towns, and school districts 
not maintaining a school of agriculture, mechanic arts, and home mak- 
ing." Indiana developed plans for an "ideal organization for club 
work in a county. "(49r) 

That much of the teaching of elementary agriculture has 
been superficial is obvious because of the unpreparedness of 
teachers, lack of equipment, and the nature of the subject. A 
precaution to be observed is that a subject need not be intro- 
duced merely because adult farmers demand it as ''useful." 
To open the eyes of the child to Nature is as important as to 
impart useful information. By all means the most valuable 
product of the farm is a wholesome boy or girl. The Committee 
on Instruction in Agriculture of the Association of American 
Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations, recommends 
generalized nature study, with school gardens, in the first three 
grades; nature study with school and home gardens in the fourth, 
fifth, and sixth grades; and elementary agriculture in the seventh 
and eighth grades. The Committee has prepared a syllabus of 
a course in elementary agriculture. (Circular 60, Office of Ex- 
periment Stations.) 

The place of nature study. Nature study in the elementary 
schools has not been uniformly successful. One reason is that 
some teachers have endeavored to teach Nature out of books. 
The mere memorizing of names or classifications is a waste of 
time, if given as nature study. Others have insisted upon the 
morphological point of view. That is, the child is assigned to 
minute studies of form or structure of plants or animals. This 
may be a necessary method for the adult student, but is very 
little needed in the instruction of a child, who is interested in 
the dynamic aspect of Nature. Action, use, as has been shown 
by Binet, Barnes, Shaw, O'Shea, Hodge, and others, are the 
aspects of objects that appeal to the boy or girl. To utilize this 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 197 

natural mode of reaction or interest of the child, in order to lay- 
in him a deep foundation of knowledge about Nature, of curios- 
ity and zeal for scientific research in later years, this should be 
an aim in nature study. 

Hodge(27) and Nolan (36) agree that nature-study of the 
right type should precede definite instruction in agriculture. 
Says Nolan: 

Before the seventh grade of the public school, agriculture should 
probably not be taught as a vocational or technical subject. Nature- 
study should here be the content and spirit of the work. Nature- 
study should be prevocational to agriculture. 

Stimulating factors. The progress of agricultural education 
in the United States has been aided by many forces. Particularly 
inspiring was the example of France in the matter of economical 
use of land-areas. The conviction has been growing that not- 
withstanding our own efficient use of man-power, that our waste 
of possibilities in land-areas for agriculture cannot continue. 
The general introduction of nature study prepared the way, and, 
as shown by the monograph of Jewell in 1907, the school garden 
movement contributed a share in preparing the way for a more 
elementary and general agricultural education. (49a) The adop- 
tion of school gardening is becoming more and more a practice 
of pedagogical and of economic value, as shown by the recent 
studies of Jarvis(49h), and Randall(49m). Probably the 
majority of city school superintendents are encouraging some 
form of school gardening. The necessity of food conservation 
and the efforts of the United States Food Commission has 
mightily stimulated interest in agriculture of many types. 

School garden movement. Large gains in food production 
and conservation during 1918 were attributed by the Bureau of 
Education to city gardening. "A million and a half boys and 
girls in cities, towns, and industrial villages, directed by 25,000 
or more teachers, have produced millions of dollars' worth of 



198 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

vegetables on thousands of acres of land that would otherwise 
have been unproductive." 

The United States Commissioner of Education, Dr. P. P. 
Claxton, thus advocates the school garden: 

IT IS GOOD FOR CHILDREN 

To work under kindly and intelligent direction, with their feet in 
the soil, their heads in the sunshine, and their lungs filled with good 
fresh air; 

To work till they are tired and hungry, and can eat heartily and sleep 
soundly; 

To work with Nature and become familiar with Nature's phenomena 
and laws as they can not from any set lessons in school; 

To work at tasks that can not be finished in an hour, or a day, or a 
week, but which must continue through weeks and months and years, 
with a reward only for those who hold out faithfully to the end; 

To form the habits of endurance to which such work must lead; 

To work at something in which the relations of cause and effect 
are so evident as they are in the cultivation and growth of crops; 

To work at problems the results of which are not wholly subjective, 
and in which their degree of success or failure is written more plainly 
and certainly than by per cent marks in the teachers' record books; 

To know the mystic joy of work in cooperation with the illimitable 
and unchanging forces of Nature; 

To come to learn the fundamental principle of morality that every 
person must contribute to his own support, and by labor of head or 
hand or heart pay in equal exchange at least for what he consumes. (42) 

Agriculture for city boys. The last thirty years have been 
a period of remarkable growth of city population. In 1890, the 
urban population was 36.1 per cent; in 1910, it was 46.3 per cent 
of the whole population of the country. Cities differ character- 
istically from each other, and from the country. Cities differ 
with regard to size, races, proportion of sexes, factories, resi- 
dences, booms, decay, railroads, seaports, cultural and moral 
conditions. Cities differ from the country in the concentration 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 199 

of diverse population within small areas, industrial and com- 
mercial establishments, community provisions for public utili- 
ties, e. g., water, gas, sewerage, electricity, transportation, mani- 
fold schools, theatres, hbraries, churches, etc. 

Agriculture for city boys because of its educational possibilities 
has often been advocated. The tired man of the city also ex- 
hibits at times a fascination or interest in a rural life remote from 
the artifact of his own existence and from the rush, smoke and 
noise of the city. Enthusiasts have even dreamed of overcoming 
the habit and lure of the city, and consequently of checking the 
disproportionate growth of the city by generating a back-to-the- 
farm movement. No remarkable results in this direction have 
been achieved. 

However, patriotic impulse as well as economic necessity 
during war time have stimulated both a widespread revival 
in home-gardening and also in some parts of the country an 
exodus of city boys to work on farms. Professor Dean claims 
that we can not much longer avoid the question of bringing 
agriculture to the city boy, or, rather, taking the city boy to 
agriculture. (15) Experience during the summer of 1917 with 
city boys working on farms brought forcibly to attention some 
of the advantages of a closer relation between city children and 
country life, when educationally supervised. He points to the 
modification of the school-attendance law of New York State 
made to facilitate this movement, as well as to the discretionary 
powers of state educational officials in the matter. For instance, 
the New York Commissioner of Education issued regulations, in 
substance as follows, regarding children who might be employed : 

Boys only, 15 years of age and above, residing in cities. 

Boys only, 14 years of age and above, residing elsewhere than in a 
city. 

Girls, 14 years of age and above, residing outside of cities, may work 
at home in the district in which such girls reside, or at a place sufficiently 
near such girls' homes as to afford supervision by their parents. 



200 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

No child shall be employed or permitted to work on farms and gar- 
dens until such child shall obtain a farm-garden permit. 

No child shall receive a farm-garden permit who does not present 
to the issuing officer the written consent of his parent or guardian and 
who is not found to be physically competent to perform the labor pro- 
posed. (15) 

Farm-craft lessons. Under the direction of the College of 
Agriculture, University of Illinois, cooperating with the State 
Council of Defense, during 1918 a valuable series of farm-craft 
lessons was prepared and given wide distribution. The lessons 
originally were intended for the use of Volunteers of the U. S. 
Boys' Working Reserve under the auspices of the U. S. Depart- 
ment of Labor. Dean Eugene Davenport edited and enlarged 
the series and afterwards an edition of 350,000 was printed by 
the United States Department of Labor under the title "Farm 
Craft Lessons." The lessons doubtless will be of permanent 
value. Expressed in simple language, they are interesting 
and practical. Here are typical subjects from the original 
series: 



Lesson 


Subject 


Author 


1 
2 
3, 4&5 


The American Boy and the War 
When the City Boy Goes to the Farm 
The Horse. 


Eugene Davenport 
Eugene Davenport 
J. L, Edmonds 


6 


The Cow 




7 


Swine 


W. J. Carmichael 


8 
9 


Farm Machinery 

The Wagon and Its Care 


E. A. White 


10 


The Plow 


E. A. White 


11 
12 


Cultivating Corn 
The Mower 




13 


The Hoe and Its Uses 


J. W. Lloyd 


14 


Wrenches and Other Machine Tools 


G. H. Radebaugh 


17 


Useful Knots 


E. A. White 


19 


Care of the Garden 


C. E. Durst 


20 


Rainy Days on the Farm 


A. W. Jamison 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 201 

Secondary Instruction 

Characteristic questions. Provision for instruction in agri- 
culture in high schools is a different problem from providing 
such instruction in the elementary schools. The tendency to- 
ward specialization of subject matter, the nature of the school, 
the relative physical and mental maturity of the pupils, and the 
near approach to vocation make agricultural education easier 
to organize in the high school than in the elementary school. 
On the other hand, the development of the social instincts and 
interests in early adolescence, and the facts that more extensive 
equipment is needed and that few good text-books on secondary 
agriculture exist, complicate the problem. 

Development. Schools of secondary grade for agriculture 
exist in France, Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, 
Austria. Much of the agricultural instruction in the United 
States given by colleges under the Morrill Act of 1862 was of 
secondary grade, and the extension work of these colleges and 
of the United States Department of Agriculture is largely of 
secondary grade. The first successful agricultural high school 
in this country was established in 1888 in connection with the 
University of Minnesota. In 1898 the number of agricultural 
high schools had increased only to ten. Statistics collected in 
1909 showed that in all, 500 institutions (high schools, normal 
schools, colleges) were giving secondary instruction in agricul- 
ture. (9) The table below shows the remarkable increase of 
agricultural education since that time. The table on page 202 is 
from a bulletin of the United States Bureau of Education. (49o) 

High school departments. Tendencies favor the support of 
departments of agriculture in the high schools rather than sup- 
port of separate agricultural schools. Assistant Director Haw- 
kins of the Federal Board pointed out that such departments 
in high schools usually have a minimum amount of equipment 
and only one or two teachers of agriculture. "Until recently 



202 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



TABLE XII 
Summary of Institutions Giving Instruction in Agriculture in 

1915-16 



Names of Institutions 


Number 
of institu- 
tions 


Students 
in agri- 
culture 


T 


State agricultural colleges 

Students in 4-year college courses 


>50 






16,008 




Students in 1 and 2 year college courses 




10,332 




Students in subject-courses of less than 
12 weeks 




14,108 




17 




TT 


State agricultural colleges for negroes 

Students in 4-year agricultural courses 






2,053 


III. 
IV. 


Other universities and colleges 

Private secondary schools (not special agri- 
cultural schools) 


2 16 

149 

12 

107 

5 124 

38 

28 
74 

M21 
2,981 


820 
2,601 


V 


Private agricultural secondary schools 

Secondary and higher schools for negroes. . . 
Public normal schools. 




VT 




VII 




VIII 


Public institutions for juvenile delinquents . 

Secondary schools of agriculture maintained 
by the State agricultural colleges at the 
colleges 




IX. 


3,958 


X. 


Special agricultural schools receiving state 
aid 


6.643 


XI. 


Vocational agricultureal department in 

public high schools under state super- 
vision 




XII 


Public high schools 


60,925 









1 Not including separate state agricultural colleges for negroes, given 
in II. 

2 Not including separate colleges for negroes given in VI. 

' Does not include 27 county normal training schools in Wisconsin, all 
of which teach agriculture. 

* Many of these are included in the 2,981 following. 

these schools also have given more attention to instruction in 
the science of agriculture than they have to farming. With the 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 203 

growth and development of the home project idea, however, 
they are relating the classroom instruction more closely to 
farming conditions and farm practice as well as extending the 
work of the school to the study and supervision of some practi- 
cal farm work carried on by the pupils at their homes. The home 
project is a project in farming carried on at home by the pupil 
under the direction of the teacher." 

''While there are all sorts of combinations and variations of 
these two types, it is usually possible, by determining whether 
or not the supervised practical work is to be done at the school 
or home, to classify all schools under one or the other of these 
two heads. This classification relates entirely to day schools. 
It is also possible to set up part-time or evening schools. These 
are not specifically mentioned in the law; neither is specific 
mention made of a day school of agriculture. It is assumed, 
therefore, that part-time or evening classes will be organized 
on the same general lines as trade extension, part-time, or even- 
ing schools for industry, that is, that the evening schools will 
be for those who have entered upon the occupation of farming 
and that the instruction given will be supplementary to the day 
employment and that part-time schools will be for the trade 
extension type, that is, for persons who are already engaged in 
the business of agriculture, but who, during a portion of the 
year or a portion of the day, week, or month wish to secure in- 
struction supplementary to the business of farming in which 
they are engaged." (la) 

The following conditions should obtain in the agricultural 
department of a high school, according to the Federal Board: 

(a) A room equipped primarily for instruction in agriculture. Such 
a room should not be fitted up with the ordinary seats and desks of the 
schoolroom, but should have movable tables and chairs which may, on 
occasion, be moved to one side in order to provide for demonstrations 
requiring large apparatus, or even the presence of a coop of 
chickens. 



204 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

(6) Sufficient equipment to demonstrate the ordinary improved 
scientific methods of testing milk, incubating eggs, grafting trees, test- 
ing soils, making butter, etc. 

(c) Suitable room for properly storing apparatus and properly 
caring for materials collected in the community, such as grains, grasses, 
fruits, vegetables, small implements, poultry, feeds, animal feeds, 
etc. 

(d) A good, but not necessarily large, collection of reference books 
and bulletins. 

(c) A few good farm papers and periodicals. 

(/) The equipment for a group of from 15 to 20 pupils will cost from 
$350 to $500. In case farm mechanics is to form a part of the course 
about $200 should be added for such equipment. If farm mechanics 
is to be a part of this course it is better to have a room especially equip- 
ped. The course in farm mechanics is largely a course in toggery and 
repairing, not in building taborets and necktie racks. Some of the 
subjects which would be included in this course are rope splicing, knot 
tying, harness mending, and building chicken coops, milking stools, 
sawhorses, gates, etc. 

While the statement is made that the equipment for a group of 
from 15 to 20 pupils will cost from $350 to $500, it is perfectly possible 
to equip a school suitably, especially for the first year, on about one- 
half this estimate. This would, however, be an absolute minimum 
based upon the assumption that the school already had suitable labor- 
atory facilities and equipment for biology, chemistry, and physics. 
It is also to be noted that while the departments may get along very 
well without any land, it is always advisable to have a small plot or 
perhaps a quarter of an acre available for use as an out-of-door labor- 
atory, rather than as a demonstration farm or plot. (Ibid.) 

Special or separate schools. These "special" agricultural 
schools often have extensive equipment in the way of build- 
ings, farm lands, machinery, etc. They are equipped to give 
boys practical experience in farming as well as to teach the 
science of agriculture. Examples of special or separate schools 
are the county schools of Wisconsin and Massachusetts and the 
state schools of New York and Minnesota. 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 



205 



Courses of study. Various adaptations of plans and out- 
lines however excellent, must be made to suit local conditions. 
Valuable are the suggestions of the Massachusetts State Board 
bearing upon the problems of organization, equipment, selection 
of teachers, finance, methods of instruction, and courses of 
study, for agricultural secondary schools or departments of 
agriculture in high schools. These suggestions have been set 
forth in detail in publications of this Board. We are re- 
printing herewith two instructive diagrams illustrative of 
Massachusetts practice in the matter of courses of study. (33) 



CAREER MOTIVE— BETTER FARMING 



VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AT A COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SCHOOL 
For All-day Pupils has Two Parts 



Part 1. — Intensive Training 




Part 2. — ^Extensive 

20 Per Cent. 

of Pupil's Time 


80 Per Cent, of Pupil's Time 




(1) 50 Per Cent, in Project Study and 


(2) 30 Per Cent. " Related! 


20 Per Cent. Cul- 


Project Work, centering on — 


Study," consisting of 


such 


tural and Good 




close correlation with the 


Citizenship train- 


A. Projects of the Pupils. 


project study and project 


ing in such sub- 


a. At home, as a rule. 


work of the following activi- 


jects as — 


b. At school, rarely. 


ties or subjects of instruction 




c. Pupil responsible, but super- 


as to warrant the 


prefix 




vised by his instructor. 


' ' farm " or " agricultural : " | 




B. Projects of the School. 






English 


a. Illustrative of well-proved 


Farm arithmetic 






methods, crops, etc. 








b. Trial, as to adaptability of 


Farm biology 




History 


promising methods, crops. 








etc., to local conditions. 


Farm physics 






c. School responsible, but uses 






Citizenship 


projects for group instruc- 


Farm chemistry 






tion of pupils in observa- 








tion and practice work. 


Farm entomology 




Government 


C. Substitutes for Projects. 


Farm veterinary science 




Economics 


a. Work on approval farm, 








with agreed upon educa- 


Farm drawing 






tional duties as cost-ac- 






Drawing, freehand 


counting one or more cows 


Farm shop work 




and mechanical 


or one or more crops. 








b. Work on the school farm. 


Farm typewriting and 


filing 




with educational duties 






Hygiene and physi- 


like the above. 


Farm accounts 




cal training 


c. Employer chiefly responsible 








but supervised by instruc- 
tor. 


Farm journal reading 




Music 


Agricultural economics 




Recreation 



Diagram of County Agricultural School Education. (33) 



206 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



CAREER MOTIVE— BETTER FARMING 

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IN A HIGH SCHOOL AGRICULTURAL 

DEPARTMENT 

For Day Pupils should have Two Parts 



Part 1. — Intensive Training 
50 Per Cent, of Pupil's Time 



Project Study and Project Work, center- 
ing on — 

(1) Projects of the Pupils 

A. At home, as a rule. 

B. Near home, occasionally. 

C. Pupil responsible, but supervised by 

structor. 

(2) Projects of the Department. 

A. At the high school, rarely. 

B. Neighborhood demonstrations, as of 

pruning, spraying, hotbed making, 
or greenhouse work. 

C. Instructor responsible, but uses proj- 

ects for group instruction in obser- 
vation and practice work. 

(3) Substitutes for Projects. 

A. Work on approved farms, with agreed 

upon educational duties, as cost 
accounting one or more cows or one 
or more crops. 

B. Employer chiefly responsible, but su 

pervision by instructor. 

(4) Remark. — The agricultural instructor 

must, as a rule, assume full respon- 
sibility for teaching the "related 
.study" required for the proper un- 
derstanding and execution of the pro- 
jects of his pupils. He must gener- 
ally teach his boys the vital correla- 
tion between their projects and such 
subjects and activities as arithmetic, 
biology, physics, chemistry, entom- 
ology, drawing, shop work, account- 
ing, filing, farm journal reading and 
agricultural economics. 



Part 2. — Extensive 
50 Per Cent, of Pupil's Time 



Cultural and Good Citizenship Training, 
selected from one or more of the regular 
high school courses, and dealing with such 
subjects as — 



English, every year 

Social science, including community civics 
and economics 



Natural science, including elementary 
science, biology, physics and chemistry 



Drawing, freehand and mechanical 
Shop work 



Business, including typewriting, business 
forms and filing, bookkeeping, commer- 
cial geography and commercial law 



Physical training 

Music 
Recreation 



Diagram of High School Agricultural Department Education. (.33) 



Study and Teaching vs. Practice of Agriculture 

Farming by graduates. How many persons are taught agri- 
culture; how many so taught follow it as a vocation? The 
gratifying growth of secondary agricultural education seems to 
mark but a beginning of what should be, when we contrast the 
numbers of students taking agriculture in public high schools 
during 1915 (seven per cent, of the total) with numbers taking 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 



207 



algebra (48 per cent.), geometry (26 per cent.), Latin (37 per 
cent.), rhetoric (48 per cent.), German (24 per cent.), French 
(eight per cent.), drawing (22 per cent.), etc. We know that a 
large proportion of our population is engaged in agriculture and 
only an insignificant fraction of the agricultural workers of the 
country ever pass through college. 

College enrollment. Because of the vast expenditure of the 
Government and of the States for agricultural education of 
secondary and of college grades, the citizen may carelessly as- 
sume that theory and teaching in these schools are followed 
by life-work on farms. It is yet to be shown clearly what pro- 
portion of the thousands of students enrolled in agricultural 
and mechanical colleges have followed practical agriculture 
afterwards. Neither is it to be assumed that all of the 
students enrolled in agricultural and mechanical colleges are 
actually taking agriculture. For example, consider the en- 
rollment in principal divisions of these colleges. Table XIII 
is compiled from the U. S. Education Report, 1917, vol. II, 
pp. 323. 

TABLE Xiri 

Enrollment in Principal Divisions of Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges fob 

White Students 



Departments 



Agriculture 

Home economics 

Mechanic arts 

Short and special courses. 
All departments 



911-12 


1912-13 


1913-14 


1914-15 


1915-16 


10,701 


12,462 


14,844 


17,169 


16,874 


2,506 


3,074 


4,018 


4,431 


5,177 


15,702 


15,141 


16,235 


16,554 


17,097 


10,106 


11.300 


15,510 


11,997 


12,181 


84,633 


90,705 


105,803 


114,905 


119,886 



Theory and practice. Some of the states most widely known 
for development of theory and experiments in agricultural in- 
struction actually have had small enrollment in the agricultural 
courses of public high schools. Massachusetts, for example, 
has developed scientifically an application of the project-method 
of teaching agriculture, widely heralded and imitated. The 
educational administration and organization of Massachusetts 



208 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

is regarded as unusually efficient. Massachusetts is more of a 
manufacturing than an agricultural state, but the vocational 
agricultural schools of Massachusetts were given considerable 
prominence in the display of rural and agricultural exhiliits at 
the Panama-Pacific exhibition (49k). Nevertheless during 1915 
only 186 boys and girls were enrolled in elementary and second- 
ary courses in agriculture in the whole state of Massachusetts 
(49°). Throughout the country, as a rule, the small enrollments 
and the total investment in agricultural education and the need 
to conserve and develop our resources make desirable a revival 
of interest to enroll more boys and girls in agriculture for voca- 
tion. Recent statistics exhibit encouraging showings. At 
present, however, there seems to be little danger of agriculture 
displacing immediately the stock subjects of average high school 
instruction, which probably remain as the choice rather of 
academic tradition than of individual and social need. 

A vertical view. Our sketch of various phases of agricul- 
tural education of elementary, secondary, and college grades, 
reveals the necessity of taking a vertical rather than a horizon- 
tal view of agricultural work in the schools. It is evident that 
the work needs better coordination in order to effect cooperation 
and understanding among the agencies participating, and to 
eliminate wasteful duplication. 

The following outline is intended to give such a "vertical 
view," but it probably contains references to some schools that 
do not exist, and is somewhat artificial in its classification. It 
at least exhibits in brief space plans for a wide range of in- 
struction in agriculture. It may be useful to the student who 
desires to schematize an inclusive plan for different grades of 
agricultural instruction. The outline is substantially the one 
published by the Bureau of Education and abstracted from the 
report of President Butterfield.(48) 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 209 

An Outline of Means for Agricultural Education 

I. The Public Schools 

Presenting agricultural material as one means of general education, 
through — 

1. Boys' and girls' agricultural clubs; Supervision by farm bureaus 

and college. 

2. School subjects: Nature study; elementary agriculture. 

3. Courses in agriculture in the high school: Three to five hours per 

week for one to four years. 

II. The Public Schools 
Teaching agriculture for vocational ends, through — 

1. Agricultural departments of the high school: To reach pupils 14 

to 16 years of age and 16 to 18. 

2. Continuation and extension schools: In connection with public 

schools, to reach pupils no longer enrolled in the pubhc schools, 
ages 14 to 18. 

3. Agricultural education for famiUes. 

4. The public schools as centers for extension work in agriculture 

and country life, carried on by the farm bureaus and the college. 

III. County or District Agricultural Schools 

1. General and specialized agriculture: Temporarily for boys 14 to 

18. 

2. Specialized courses in agriculture, such as poultry husbandry, 

dairy husbandry, pomology, etc., as the eventual purpose for 
boys 16 to 18; these courses correlate with the work of the agri- 
cultural departments of the high schools. 

3. Extension work, in cooperation with the county farm bureaus 

and improvement leagues; this should be coordinated closely 
with the work of the county schools on the one hand, and with 
4 the agricultural college on the other. 



210 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

IV. The Agricultural College 

1. Investigation. 

(a) Research. 

(6) Experimentation and testing. 

(c) Cooperative studies in agricultural resources. 

2. Teaching. 

(a) The four-year course for a degree. 

(6) Graduate work. 

(c) Short courses for pupils of 18 years and upward. 

A. Short courses of college grade, one to two years. 

(1) For graduates of county agricultural schools. 

(2) For graduates of agricultural departments of high schools. 

(3) For graduates of high schools who have not had agricul- 

ture and are not eligible to the four-year course. 

(4) For graduates of liberal arts colleges. 

(5) For adults 21 years and over not eligible to four-year 

course. 

B. Short courses giving elementary and specialized work, if the 

demand requires, for those 18 years of age upward. 

(1) Winter courses of 12 weeks for highly specialized work, 

such as butter making, etc. 

(2) Winter course of 20 weeks for students desiring more gen- 

eral work. 

(3) Summer course of 6 weeks, primarily for teachers of non- 

vocational agriculture. 

3. Extension service. 

(a) General extension work for adults. 

(1) Lectures and study clubs. 

(2) Extension schools. 

(3) Correspondence courses. 

(4) Demonstrations. 
(6) Junior-extension work. 

(c) Extension work for urban and suburban residents. 

Note. — So far as possible the work in rural home-making will parallel 
agricultural work tliroughout the whole system. (48) 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 211 

Applications of the Smith-Hughes Law 

Agricultural questions. The legal obligations imposed by 
the Smith-Hughes Act, and also the discretionary interpreta- 
tions of the Federal Board disclose many questions in the matter 
of agricultural education lower than college grade. 

(a) Duplication. Since land-grant colleges were conducting 
considerable agricultural work of secondary or lower grade, and 
already were receiving federal moneys from the Morrill, the Nel- 
son, and the Agricultural-Extension funds, the possibility of 
dupUcation appeared under the Smith-Hughes Act. This Act 
provides : 

"That there is hereby annually appropriated, out of any money in 
the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sums provided in sec- 
tions 2, 3, and 4 of this act, to be paid to the respective States for the 
purpose of cooperating with the States in paying the salaries of teachers 
of trade, home-economics, and industrial subjects, and in the prepara- 
tion of teachers of agricultural, trade, industrial, and home-economics 
subjects ..." (Sec. 1.) 

"... That such education shall be of less than college grade . . ." 
(Sec. 10.) 

The interpretation of the Federal Board in this matter was that 
the only way in which a land-grant college can use federal money 
under the Smith-Hughes Act for the salaries of teachers of agri- 
culture is by making a separate organization of vocational 
classes of less than college grade. (Federal Board, Bulletin 1, 
pp. 36-37). 

(6) Payment of directors and supervisors. If a person divides 
his time between supervision of agricultural subjects and the 
training of teachers of agriculture, then a definite division of his 
time between supervision and teacher-training should be made 
at the outset of the fiscal year and adhered to. (Ibid., 37.) The 
Federal Board believed it to be the intent of the Smith-Hughes 



212 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Act that States should pay for salaries of directors of agriculture, 
although latitude was allowed during the year 1917-1918. 

The principles to govern the payment of federal moneys under 
the Smith-Hughes Act for supervisors of agriculture are also 
open to interpretation. The Act provides: 

"That any State may use the appropriation for agricultural purposes, 
or any part thereof allotted to it, under the provisions of this Act, for 
the salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural sub- 
jects, either for the salaries of teachers of such subjects in schools or 
classes or for the salaries of supervisors or directors of such subjects 
under a plan of supervision for the State to be set up by the State board, 
with the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Education." 

"... The State boards shall prepare plans showing ... in the 
case of agricultural subjects, the qualifications of supervisors or di- 
rectors . . . Such plans shall be submitted by the State Board to the 
Federal Board for Vocational Education and if the Federal Board finds 
the same to be in conformity with the provisions and purposes of this 
Act, the same shall be approved." (Sec. 8.) 

The decisions of the Federal Board were these: Any states 
may use the appropriation for agricultural purposes, either for 
the salaries of teachers in schools, or for salaries of supervisors or 
directors, under a plan of supervision prepared by the State 
Board and approved by the Federal Board. A supervisor must 
meet qualification standards, particularly if a part of the time 
of the supervisor of agricultural education is given to industrial 
and home economics education. The amount of time and the 
amounts prorated for salaries must be prorated from sworn 
reports. (Ibid., 37-38). 

(c) Club work. The question has been raised : Can one person 
serve in both positions, as a state supervisor of agriculture and 
as a state leader of boys and girls' club work? The Federal 
Board ruled that he might not so serve, except (and this only 
for the year, 1917-1918) when his status is clearly defined, and 
federal moneys under the Smith-Hughes Act are to be used only 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 213 

to pay for that part of his time given to supervision of instruc- 
tion in vocational agriculture. (Ibid., 38.) 

(d) Short courses. Moneys from the Smith-Hughes Act may 
be used for short course in agriculture. The Act reads: 

"... That such schools shall provide for directed or supervised 
practice in agriculture, either on a farm provided for by the school or 
other farm, for at least six months per year . . ." (Sec. 10.) 

The ruling of the Federal Board was that the length of the 
school course in agriculture is independent of the required six 
months of supervised practice on a farm, since that practice 
must be regarded as only a part of the regular instruction, the 
other part being carried on in class. Pupils may be in atten- 
dance on school classes for any period of time necessary to com- 
plete all other than the practical work. This time may be long 
or short, according to the state plan adopted. It might be, 
at least in theory, one week, or one month, six months, nine 
months, or two or more regular school years. The State Board, 
however, should set up a system of reports clearly showing 
whether or not the practical work was properly supervised. 
The practical work may be either regular farm occupations or 
specific projects (ibid., 38-39). 

(e) Local distributions of funds. The allotment of agricultural 
funds to the States under the Smith-Hughes Act is on the basis 
of rural population. The industrial funds are alloted upon the 
basis of urban population. Nothing is said in the Act regarding 
where the States shall spend the respective funds — whether for 
agriculture, industries and trades, or home economics: 

"Said sums shall be allotted to the States in the proportion which 
their rural population bears to the total rural population in the United 
States, not including outlying possessions, according to the last pre- 
ceding United States census . . ." Sec. 2.) 

"Said sums shall be allotted to the States in the proportion which 



214 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

their urban population bears to the total urban population in the United 
States, not including outlying possessions, according to the last pre- 
ceding United States census ..." (Sec. 2.) 

"The moneys so receiA^ed by the custodian for vocational education 
for any State shall be paid out on the requisition of the State board as 
reimbursement for expenditures already incurred to such schools as 
are approved by said State Board and are entitled to receive such 
moneys under the provisions of this act." (Sec. 14.) 

The Federal Board declared that the distribution of the 
funds is a matter to be determined by the State Board which 
may accordingly place the funds where it believes the money 
will do most good. (Ibid., 39.) 

(/) At least dollar for dollar. Every dollar of federal money 
must be matched by at least one dollar of state money. The Act 
provides : 

"... The moneys expended under the provisions of this act in 
cooperation with the States, for the salaries of teachers, supervisors, 
or directors of agricultural subjects, or for the salaries of teachers of 
trade, home economics, and industrial subjects, shall be conditioned 
that for each dollar of Federal money expended for such salaries the 
State or local community, or both, shall expend an equal amount for 
such salaries; and that appropriations for the training of teachers of 
vocational subjects, as herein provided, shall be conditioned that such 
money be expended for maintenance of such training, and that for 
each dollar of Federal money so expended for maintenance the State 
or local community, or both, shall expend an equal amount for the 
maintenance of such training . . ." (Sec. 9.) 

(g) Teaching vs. supervision. The Federal Board made the 
rulings that : (a) The teaching and the supervision of agricultural 
education are distinct and separate lines of work; (b) in every 
instance States must show that federal funds for each purpose 
will be matched by at least an equal sum furnished by the state 
or local commuities for the same purpose; (c) the method in 
which a State may use its allotment for supervision of agri- 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 215 

cultural education will be controlled by the provisions of the 
plan approved by the Federal Board. The provision is : 

"That any State may use the appropriation for agricultural pur- 
poses, or any part thereof allotted to it, under the provisions of this 
act, for the salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural 
subjects, either for the salaries of teachers of such subjects in schools 
or classes or for salaries of the supervisors or directors of such subjects, 
under a plan of supervision for the State to be set up by the State board 
with the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Education ..." 
(Sec. 10.) 

(h) Mixed classes. Of importance to institutions training 
teachers for agriculture, trade and industrial subjects, and home 
economics, under the Smith-Hughes Act, was the following 
ruling of the Federal Board (Bulletin I, pp. 35-36) : 

Federal funds for the training of teachers may be used only on the 
following conditions: 

(1) That the classes for which these funds are used are composed 

entirely of those students who are preparing to teach in vo- 
cational schools. Such students must be pursuing the course 
of study approved by the State and Federal boards. 

(2) That no separate classes for which federal funds are used are to 

parallel other classes being conducted in the institution. When 
such separate classes are formed it must be clearly shown that 
they are a necessary addition to classes already in operation 
for other students. Instruction in these separate classes must 
be sufficiently differentiated from the regular classes to justify 
their establishment and maintenance. 

The Federal Board, however, declared that an institution 
may use moneys under both the Nelson and the Smith-Hughes 
Acts for the maintenance of the same teacher-training classs 
in agriculture. (Ibid., pp. 40). It was the policy of the Board 
in general to regard the Nelson amendment of the Morrill Act 
as meeting the need for the training of teachers for rural schools, 
or in other schools not meeting the requirements of the Smith- 



216 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Hughes Act, whereas the Smith-Hughes fund was to be used for 
training teachers primarily for service in schools meeting certain 
definite standards under the Act. The Federal Board also 
required that where land-grant colleges operate in the same 
buildings a teacher-training school in agriculture and a second- 
ary school fitting for the pursuit of agriculture, absolute separa- 
tion be made of all instruction for teacher-training classes from 
that of secondary grade, if either or both are to receive moneys 
under the Smith-Hughes Act. (Ibid., pp. 41.) In the opinion 
of the Federal Board it was not the intent of the Act to use 
federal moneys for general supervision of agricultural training 
in the States, as distinct from the supervision of schools and 
classes receiving federal moneys for instruction in agricultural 
subjects. (Ibid., pp. 41.) 

(i) The training demanded. A fundamental specification of 
the Smith-Hughes Act concerning agricultural education is the 
following : The controlling purpose of such education shall be to 
fit for useful employment; that such education shall be of less 
than college grade and be designed to meet the needs of persons 
over fourteen years of age who have entered upon or who are 
preparing to enter upon the work of the farm or of the farm 
home; — that such schools shall provide for directed or super- 
vised practice in agriculture, either on a farm provided by the 
school or other farm, for at least six months per year; that the 
teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural subjects shall 
have at least the minimum qualifications determined for the 
state by the state Board with approval of the Federal Board. 
(Smith-Hughes Act, Sec. 10.) 

The Federal Board required at the outset that the State 
Boards should provide within a reasonable time new standards 
of training in agriculture, for qualifications of teachers serving 
under the Smith-Hughes Act. The State Boards with the ap- 
proval of the Federal Board establish minimum requirements 
for persons undergoing training as teachers. This training is 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 217 

given only to persons who have had adequate vocational experi- 
ence, or contact in the line of work for which they are preparing 
themselves as teachers, supervisors, or directors, or who are 
acquiring such experience or contact as a part of their training. 
The training is carried out under the supervision of the State 
Board, in schools or classes under public supervision or control. 
Not more than twenty per cent of the money appropriated 
under the Act for the training of teachers of vocational subjects 
to any State for any year shall be expended for any one of the 
following purposes : For the preparation of teachers, supervisors, 
or directors of agricultural subjects, or the preparation of tea- 
chers of trade and industrial subjects, or the preparation of 
teachers of home economic subjects. (Section 12 of Act.) 

Pedagogical Problems 

Preparation of teachers. Where the elements of agriculture 
are taught in elementary or in high schools as a vocational sub- 
ject, i. e., vocational agricultural education, the teachers of 
science may well correlate elementary science with the growing 
of agricultural products. Some high school teachers with 
practical farming experience may be trusted with agricultural 
courses which are truly vocational. The home-project plan of 
teaching agriculture is especially desirable for boys who live on 
farms. 

It is recognized that the teacher of vocational agricultural 
education must be preeminently practical — with understanding, 
sympathy for youth, and with ability to do. "He must have 
common sense — the most uncommon of all senses. He must be 
not only a man among men, but a farmer among farmers — 
Life-long farm experience is desirable." 

Massachusetts has set a high standard for the qualification 
of secondary teachers of agriculture. The diagram on page 218 
exhibits in concise form the qualifications desired, as set forth 
by the Massachusetts State Board of Education. (33) 



218 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS OF PROSPECTIVE INSTRUCTORS 

For County or Separate Agricultural Schools and 
High School Agricultural Departments 



1 


2 


3 


4 


5 






Related 


Farm Work 


Non- 


Specifications 


Farm Work 


Study or 


and Related 


agricultural 




Instructor 


Technical 
In.structor 


Study 
Instructor 


Instructor 


(1) Age 


A. Without 
successful 
teaching 
experience. 


21 


21 


21 


No such ap- 
plicant con- 
sidered. 




B. With 


21 


21 


21 


21 




successful 












teaching 












experience. 










(2) Farm Experience 


Eight calendar 


Two calendar 


Eight calendar 


Knowledge 




years under 


years, and va- 


vears in farm- 


enough of 




farming condi- 


cations during 


ing if only 


farming to en- 




tions Uke those 


agricultural 


special agri- 


able the in- 




in Massachu- 


school or col- 


cultural courses 


structor to un- 




setts. 


lege course. 


have been 
taken; 4 cal- 
endar years in 
farming if 2 
years or equiv- 
alent in agri- 
cultural 
courses have 
been taken. 


derstand the 
aim of voca- 
tional agricul- 
tural education, 
and a natural 
inclination 
toward the 
betterment of 
country living. 


(3) Academic 


Grammar 


High school or 


High school or 


College or 


Education 


graduate. 


agricultural 


agricultural 


normal school 






school graduate. 


school graduate. 


graduate. 


(4) Technical 


Special courses 


Two vears or 


Two vears or 


Courses in .sub- 


Education 


in agriculture. 


equivalent in 


equivalent in 


jects to be 






agricultural 


agricultural 


taught. 






courses. 


courses. 




(5) Professional 


Approved 


Courses in 


Approved 


Course in ped- 


Education 


study of home- 


home-project 


study of home- 


agogy, and one 




project 


methods of 


project 


year of .suc- 




methods of 


teaching agri- 


methods of 


cessful teach- 




teaching agri- 


culture and re- 


teaching agri- 


ing experience. 




culture. 


lated studies. 


culture and re- 
lated studies. 





(6) Personality Satisfactory and with presumption of ability to handle pupils (Personal 
interview required). 



(7) Physique 


Good health 
(attested by 
physician's 
certificate) and 
no deformity. 


Good health 
(attested by 
physician's 
certificate) . 


Good health 
(attested by 
physician's 
certificate) and 
no deformity. 


Good health 
(attested by 
physician's 
certificate). 


(8) Sex 


Men only. 


Men only 


Men only. 


Men only. 



DtAGRAM OP Minimum Qualifications of Candidates for AgrictjIiTTjraij School ano 
Department Instructorships.(33) 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 



219 



It is evident that to secure men with such minimum quahfi- 
<"itions renewed effort should be made to attract desirable men 
by means of adequate salaries into the work of teaching. More 
compensation, monetary and social, must go hand in hand with 
iuie elevation of standards for certification to teach. 

A course for teachers. Suggestions for what ought to be 
the general content of a two or four year course for teachers of 
agriculture have been made by the Federal Board. The Board 
emphasizes the statements that no hard and fast classifications 
are used in the suggestions offered, and that supervised practice 
in teaching vocational agriculture must be stressed strongly. 
A notable omission under professional training is the general 
history of education. At least the reading of the briefer work of 
Graves, or of Monroe, should be required in order to give 
perspective and inspiration to the prospective teacher. The 
following table embodies the suggestions: (la) 

TABLE XIV 

Approximation op Time in a Course for Teachers of Agriculture (Practical 
Experience not Included) 



Agricultural 


Sciences 


Humanistic 


Professional 


4-year course, 40 per 


4-year course, 30 per 


4-year course, 20 


4-year course, 10 


cent; 2-year course, 60 


cent; 2-year course 15 


per cent; 2- 


per cent; 2- 


per cent. 


per cent. 


year course 15 


year course 10 






per cent. 


per cent. 


Field and forage crops. 


Chemistry. 


English. 


Educational 


Soils and fertilizers. 


Physics. 


History and Gov- 


psychology. 


Animal husbandry and 


Biology. 


ernment. 


Principles and 


dairying. 


Geology. 


Rural economics. 


general methods 


Poultry husbandry. 


Etc. 


Rural sociology. 


School organiza- 


Horticulture. 




Rural organiza- 


tion and man- 


Vegetable gardening. 




tion. 


agement. 


Farm mechanics. 


Agricultural chemistry. 


Etc. 


Etc. 


Farm management, etc. 


Economic entomology. 








Plant pathology. 




Vocational edu- 


Both general and special 


Plant breeding. 




cation, history 


courses in the above. 


Veterinary science. 




and principles. 




Bacteriology. 




Special methods 




Etc. 




(in agriculture). 
Practice teaching. 
Etc. 



Technic in teaching. Modern teachers and researchers 
such as Suzzallo, McMurry, Bagley, Parker, O'Shea, and Hosic, 



220 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

have clarified the matter of technic of general instruction for 
elementary and secondary schools, and are aiding in placing 
inetliods of teaching different subjects upon a scientific basis. 
It is not assumed in these days that definite procedure or meth- 
ods can be laid down in advance to suit most if not all situations 
where instruction is called for. A dozen years ago the writer ran 
across a pedant who so highly esteemed his own "mastery of 
methods" that he boasted openly that "he could teach any- 
thing." Contemporary educational science condemns such 
quackery. Experimentation taking the place of mere hypoth- 
esis in educational theory is yielding norms and procedure for 
the difficult work of instruction. 

The project method. Borrowed from other fields the word 
'project has come to denote a method, or group of methods of 
instruction, of high potential values, especially in the teaching 
of agriculture. As shown by Stimson, Heald, Stevenson, Krack- 
owizer, and others, in procedure and results, the project system 
is probably superior to some other methods of teaching. There 
has been considerable waste of time and money, however, de- 
voted to merely academic elaboration of the different meanings 
of the concept project. There is a type of mind which acts as 
though a problem were solved when once the words symbolizing 
it have been minutely defined and classified. 

Essentials of a home-project. In the project system, life 
activities hitherto considered outside of the school are organized 
and utilized beneficially as educative processes in the life of the 
pupil. Heald, referring to Stimson's earlier studies, to the 
Massachusetts plans, and to Department of Agriculture Bul- 
letins, thus indicates the essentials of a home-project as a phase 
of vocational agricultural education : 

1. A carefully drawn plan covering a considerable extent of time, with 
a definite aim, including some problems new to the pupil and outlining 
with sufficient detail the methods to be employed. This plan should be 
written and should be an exhil)it in connection with the second essential. 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 221 

2. An agreement between parent, pupil, and teacher, based upon 
the plan already prepared and so prepared as to eliminate later disa- 
greements. The boy's financial privileges should be clearly stated. 

3. Instruction in the school both in regular course and in special 
individual study to the end that the project work may be done intelli- 
gently and that the home may furnish the kind of laboratory practice 
best adapted to the school work. 

4. Detailed records of method, time, cost, income, and other impor- 
tant factors which shall finally be summarized in — 

5. A report including both a story and a complete accounting for 
the entire project period. 

6. Supervision by a competent instructor of such a nature as to help 
the student to succeed in his project, to encourage him at times when 
difficulties arise and to hold him to his agreement; incidentally to 
impart instruction supplementing that of the classroom. (40) 

Distribution of projects. The studies of Stimson, Heald, 
and Nolan, and those contained in state and federal bulletins 
and reports — render unnecessary any detailed treatment of the 
project-method in these pages. We are appending, however, 
another useful diagram (page 222) offered by the Massa- 
chusetts Board of Education to illustrate how a series of agri- 
cultural projects may be distributed through periods of years. 

Agricultural and liberal education. The question of sepa- 
rating agricultural education and liberal education arises here as 
a similar question arises in every other field of specialized train- 
ing for useful occupation. Again we revert to the necessary 
doctrine of balancing or weighing educational ideals and aims 
(ante, p. 45) rather than to mere partisanship, be it academic or 
utilitarian; of keeping open during the career of every individual 
adequate opportunity for elementary, for liberal, and for spe- 
ciahzed vocational education compatible with the principles 
of democracy. We rely also upon the nature of instruction, 
upon the quality of teachers, upon the home, and upon social 
organizations to counteract any evil tendencies in separate, 
technical classes or schools. 





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222 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 223 

The problem of whether an agricultural school should be 
separate and distinct may be a problem to be solved locally- 
according to conditions. It may be necessary under certain 
circumstances to have separate agricultural schools, as entirely 
separate as some of the purely classical high schools. We believe 
that the former, too isolated, would tend to "peasantize" the 
farming population, just as the latter could breed intellectual 
pretenders or snobs, now that our vision of the interrelation of 
the different phases of education is some clearer. By no means, 
however, is there unanimity of conviction regarding the best 
ways to prevent agricultural education intended for the pros- 
pective or active farmer from becoming bookish, academic, 
theoretical, as witness the discussion of Snedden(43) and Crom- 
well (8). 

Agriculture as therapy. Light agriculture under favorable 
conditions is being used for its health-imparting effects to in- 
valids and the convalescent. In Europe, in Canada, and in the 
United States, gardens in connection with hospitals have been 
found of three-fold value for convalescent soldiers. To some of 
these it affords (1) necessary exercise, fresh air, sunhght, and 
(2) mental diversion ; (3) it may give a vocational consciousness 
and ambition to the man who feels " I am undone." 

A good example of agriculture used as occupational therapy, 
was the training offered to disabled soldiers and sailors at the 
Walter Reed General Hospital, Washington, D. C. 

Practical work was offered in (1) elementary agriculture — general 
farming, dairying, farm management, farm mechanics, poultry hus- 
bandry, entomology, botany; (2) elementary horticulture-fruit grow- 
ing, pomology, vegetable gardening, landscape gardening, floriculture, 
nursery practice, forestry, plant propagation. 

For the reeducation of returned, disabled soldiers, and for 
their reestablishment in civil life, farm activities have played 
an important part in France, England, Belgium, and especially 



224 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Canada. In the United States large opportunity existed for the 
use of tillable land by war veterans for vocational agriculture in 
extension of agriculture used during convalescence merely as 
therapy. (Id.) 

Agricultural Education in Philanthropic and Other 

Institutions 

Hampton and Tuskegee. There have been interesting de- 
velopments of agricultural education in other than public 
schools or state colleges. The practical work at Tuskegee and 
at Hampton has long been illustrative of the benefits of agri- 
cultural and mechanical education especially to the negroes of 
the South, and to other peoples as well. Doubtless these insti- 
tutions under the leadership respectively of Armstrong and of 
Washington have utilized some of the best things in the teach- 
ings of Pestalozzi and Fellenberg. 

The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades. A 
notable example of agriculture in a semi-public institution is 
the Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades of Williamson, 
Pennsylvania. This endowed school conducts courses for 
machinists, operative engineers, bricklayers, etc., as well as for 
prospective farmers. 

A specimen course. The following is a reproduction of 
the "trade course in agriculture," as offered at Williamson 
during 1914: 

Williamson Scientific Agricultural Trade Course 

"Farm Practice. (1) Under this head will be classed the work in 
Farm Mechanics, which will consist of talks relating to the machines 
in use on the farm: Blacksmithing; farm carpentry; concrete construc- 
tion; steam and gas engines and electric motors. 

(2) Stock Judging: Talks with illustrations showing the correct 
type of the breeds of domestic animals; extensive work in judging 
classes and individuals. 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 225 

First Year — Judging with score card. 
Second Year — Judging without score card. 
Third Year — Competitive judging. 

(3) Dairying: Care and feeding of dairy cattle; the production of 
milk; stable sanitation; testing milk; handling milk for market; butter 
making; cream separators and dairy machinery; the manufacture of 
cottage cheese and commercial buttermilk; dairy bacteriology. 

(4) Poultry Raising, including hatching by incubator and natural 
process; preparation of broilers for market; feeding for egg production 
and growth; mating and judging stock. 

(5) Horticulture; grafting, spraying and diseases of fruit trees; 
commercial fruit growing; farm and market gardening. 

(6) Market Farm Produce; the killing and curing of meats; lectures 
on the value of organization in marketing; and world's greatest markets, 
cold storage." 

The work by years. 

First Year — 
Farm practice 36 hours per week 

"Between the hours of 5 and 7 a. m. and 1 and 5 p. m. the students 
are detailed to the various departments to carry on the work of the 
farm. This practice is to be closely correlated to the classroom work, 
and to be supplemented by "field talks" relating to the work in hand. 
Special emphasis is placed on the training of the students in efficiency. 
Time exercises are given and a continuous effort made to develop 
speed and accuracy in the performance of farm work." 

Breeds of live stock 2 hours per week 

Soils 2 " " " 

Academic work: Arithmetic, history, geography, 
grammar, spelling, physiology, hygiene, botany — 

each 2 hours, total 12 " " " 

Drawing 6 " " " 

Literature 1 " " " 

Music 1 " " " 



226 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Second Year — 
"The work in Farm Practice during the Junior Year is a continua- 
tion of the plan as outlined for the Freshman Year. 

Farm practice 36 hours per week 

Agronomy and diseases of plants 2 " " " 

Feeds and feeding (April to September) 2 " " 

Veterinary science (September to April) 2 " " " 

Academic: April to September: Grammar and 
spelling, literature, civil government, physics, 

chemistry, commercial, each 2 hours 12 " " 

Mensuration 3 " " " 

September to April: Grammar and spelling, litera- 
ture, civil government, physics, chemistry, com- 
mercial, each 2 hours 14 " " " 

Algebra 1 " " " 

Music 1 " " " 

Third Year- 
Farm Practice. 

"Farm Practice five and one-half days per week for two successive 
weeks. Each third week the student will spend seven full days in the 
departments. 

An opportunity will be given here for students to specialize in any of 
the various departments of the course. 

Lectures will be given from time to time covering in detail some 
branch of farm practice. A chance will be given for original work, 
and each student will be required to assist in the management of the 
farm for a specified number of days. Time will be allowed for experi- 
mental work in crop growing, feeding and manufacturing farm pro- 
duce. Special attention will be paid during the latter part of the year 
to the marketing of produce and the business management of a farm." 
(49). 

The student body at Williamson is largely a select group of 
youths, chosen from a waiting list upon the basis of physical and 
mental capacity. The applicants must be at least 15 years of 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 227 

age. The property includes some 25 buildings, and 230 acres of 
land. The school meets all expenses, including lodging, meals, 
clothing, etc. 

Agriculture for delinquents and the feeble-minded. Out-of- 
door and agricultural activities have long been relied upon in 
special institutions to benefit unfortunates. Scores of so- 
called industrial schools maintained for juvenile delinquents 
utilize agricultural instruction in varying amounts and kinds. 
Examples of institutions of this type are St. Charles School for 
Boys, St. Charles, 111.; Glen Mills Schools, Glen Mills, Pa.; 
Lincoln Agricultural School, Lincolndale, N. Y. ; Lyman School 
for Boys, Westborough, Mass.; Preston School of Industry, 
Waterman, California; State Industrial School, St. Louis, Mo.; 
Wisconsin Industrial School for Boys, Waukesha, Wisconsin; 
Boys Industrial School, Topeka Kansas; Richmond County 
Reformatory, Georgia; Industrial and Training School of 
Shelby County, Tennessee; etc. (26) Agricultural activities are 
also found beneficial in the care and training of the feeble- 
minded. An interesting example is the Vineland Training School 
of Vineland, New Jersey. (6) 

Agriculture in other institutions. The report of the U. S. 
Education Bureau during 1917 listed types of schools referred 
to above, and also contains data concerning other institutions 
utilizing forms of agricultural work. E. g. : 

" In many State and county prisons, penitentiaries, and jails, farm 
work is required of the inmates. In a few of them definite instruc- 
tion in agriculture is given through classroom work, lectures, etc. 
For instance, at the California State Prison at San Quentin, 318 in- 
mates were enrolled and took agricultural courses through the ex- 
tension division of the State Agricultural College in January, 1917. 
Twenty-three different courses were given. Weekly meetings of the 
agricultural students were held, at which special lectures in agriculture 
were given. In the California State Prison at Folsom, 70 men have 
been enrolled in agricultural classes during the past year. The work 



228 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

is carried on under the general supervision of the State Agricultural 
College, an instructor coming to the prison every Saturday. 

In the State penitentiary at Columbus, Ohio, in February, 1917, 46 
inmates were taking or had completed courses in poultry, swine, horses, 
truck gardening, etc., all through the extension service of the State 
University. In the State Prison at Walla Walla, Wash., between 400 
and 500 inmates work on the farm and receive instruction in the tech- 
nical side of their work. In the State Penitentiary at Lansing, Kans., 
20 inmates are enrolled in an agricultural extension course organized 
by the State Agricultural College. The plan has been followed for five 
years." 

Improvement of Rural Life 

City and country interested. Realization of the inevitable 
effect of rural conditions upon the life of the nation and the race 
gives strength to the movements for the improvement of rural 
life. Efficiency, sanitation, better schools adapted to the needs 
of society and of individuals, are powerful elements in this im- 
provement. Agricultural education lower than college grade 
is of immediate importance to people living in the country, al- 
though the mechanical trades also are of use upon the modern 
farm. Education in mechanical industries and trades, however, 
concerns chiefly the city boy and girl. We shall consider in the 
next chapter some of the problems of this kind of education. 
In ultimate analysis, both country and city are interested in 
vocational education of all kinds and therefore join in its hearty 
support. 

The advocates. Reports of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, of Experiment Stations, and published pro- 
ceedings of the Association of American Agricultural Colleges 
and Experiment Stations probably contain the most complete 
materials for a history of agricultural education in this country. 
There are many names of men who have pushed the good cause 
of agricultural education which should be recorded in such a 
history. Among the names of such workers may be mentioned 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 229 

the following roughly grouped into periods: (1860-1880) Levi 
Stockbridge of Massachusetts; Manley Miles, R. C. Kedzie, 
W. J. Beal, of Michigan; Samuel Johnson and Frank Storer of 
Yale; J. P. Roberts of Cornell; (1880-1919) W. A. Henry and 
H. L. Russell of Wisconsin; L. H. Bailey of Cornell; E. M. Shel- 
ton and G. T. Fairchild of Kansas; T. F. Hunt, now in Cali- 
fornia; W. H. Jordan, of New York; C. F. Curtis and R. A. 
Pearson of Iowa; C. G. Hopkins, H. W. Mumford, J. C. Blair, 
and Eugene Davenport of lUinois; W. R. Dodson of Louisiana; 
A. M. Soule of Georgia; M. A. Scovell of Kentucky; J. F. Duggar 
of Alabama; C. E. Thorne of Ohio; E, A. Burnett of Nebraska; 
H. J. Waters of Wisconsin; H. P. Armsby of Pennsylvania. 
The work of A. C. True, Director of States Relation Service, 
United States Department of Agriculture, has been of wide 
influence. On the plane of educational administration there 
must be included the name of E. P. Cubberley of California who 
has helped to show teachers how to improve rural life. (10) 

Summary 

The nine series of problems and topics we have brought 
before the mind of the reader are these : 

1. It is a fact that agriculture diversified in method and location 

is the major industry of the country, both in importance 
and in numbers employed. 

2. Elementary agriculture in the country and in the city is 

taking definite form, stimulated by need, by enlarging 
interests of pupils and teachers, and by favorable legisla- 
tion and p^iblic support. 

3. The question of separate vs. high school departments of 

education is still an open one in many communities. Pro- 
gressive high schools are now modifying programs, and 
courses of study, curricula, and are employing practically 
qualified teachers of agriculture. 



230 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

4. Large numbers of graduates from agricultural colleges do 

not engage in practical farming. Both in collegiate and in 
secondary schools, distinctions should be recognized be- 
tween agricultural course that are vocational in aim, and 
those agricultural courses that are intended merely to 
enlarge knowledge, appreciation, and to be an adjunct to 
liberal education. 

5. Better coordination is needed between the numerous instru- 

mentalities of training in agriculture at public expense, 
whether in elementary, secondary or higher instututions. 
Students may profitably study tabular schemes showing a 
"vertical" view of the existing educational machinery for 
a better understanding of this problem. 

6. The Smith-Hughes Law afforded liberal aid for States in the 

cooperative upbuilding of agricultural education of sub- 
collegiate grade. Valuable are the regulations exacting 
teacher- training courses as a prerequisite for federal aid. 

7. The pedagogical questions of organization of programs, 

courses of study, and of curricula are pressing. They can 
not be worked out in isolation, but through conferences, 
researches, and united effort of teachers, superintendents, 
university professors, and by state and federal specialists. 
Pedagogical dogmas however camouflaged about "methods 
of teaching" without regard to such scientific studies and 
cooperative efforts should be shunned. 

8. Some of the private or philanthropic institutions, such as 

Williamson, Hampton, and Tuskegee, have already demon- 
strated important experiments in the practical working 
of agricultural courses. Other institutions have proved 
its utility in the social treatment of special types of persons. 

9. Rural life and city life are becoming more and more inter- 

dependent. From the economic point of view the interests 
of the country have become the interests of the increasing 
urban population and the reverse is true. 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 231 

In our next chapter we shall present materials that make 
plainer the problems of education in mechanical industries and 
trades — i. e., for occupations that concern predominantly the 
boy or girl of the city. 

Problems 

1. Show in what sense the education favored by the Smith- 

Hughes Act is extremely broad. 

2. Can you draw a sharp line between agricultural education 

as a part of liberal education, and agricultural education 
for vocation? 

3. Enumerate all of the different farming occupations in your 

county. Make some investigation of each type of occupa- 
tion. 

4. To what extent and how should the teaching of pure science 

(chemistry, physics, etc.) be safeguarded, in the case of 
agricultural programs in high schools? 

5. In communities where separate agricultural high schools 

exist, how may a degree of general and liberal education 
be assured in the life-time of each student? 

6. What are the principal advantages and disadvantages of 

agricultural courses in ''regular" high schools? 

7. Study typical programs, courses of study, and curricula in 

secondary agricultural schools or courses, 

8. Classify and characterize the institutions giving second- 

ary agricultural instruction in your own state. 

9. Write a paper, or critique, concerning the interpretations 

of the Smith-Hughes Act by the Federal Board. 

10. Read the discussion of Snedden and of Cromwell: "What 

is Agricultural Education?" (See references 8 and 43). 
Evaluate the arguments. 

11. Study methods and results, pedagogical and economic, of 

use of agriculture in an institution for the care of feeble- 



232 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

minded. Procure recent reports, and if possible visit 
several times an institution, e. g., Vineland.(6) 

12. Make a similar study of a school for delinquents, e. g., St. 

Charles, 111., or the Lyman School, Mass., or the Whittier 
School, California. 

13. Study the possibilities in your own community of agricul- 

ture for city boys and girls. 

14. What do you think of renting vacant land adjacent to cities 

and putting boys in charge of the work on a supervised 
project basis? 

15. To what extent is it practicable for boys in the secondary 

course in agriculture to qualify themselves for an agri- 
cultural college? 

16. What kinds of farming in East, West, North, and South, 

respectively, may now offer promising opportunity for 
women? 

17. Make a study of the actual costs (a) per put)il, (b) per 

pupil hour, in each course of agriculture, and of different 
academic subjects in a high school, or a college. 

18. Study the present vocational preferences of pupils, and 

also the after-career of graduates of an agricultural 
institution, 

19. From useful, healthful home activities, draw up a definite 

plan for home projects. 

20. Contrast the practice in the matter of home-projects in 

agriculture in the States of Michigan, Minnesota and 
Massachusetts. 

21. Evaluate points of weakness and of strength in the use of 

agriculture by some local institution for delinquents and 
for dependents. 

22. How can a rural survey be made of a county or district pre- 

paratory to improving systematically the conditions of 
rural life? 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 233 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Agricultural Education. 

(a) The first of a series of bulletins devoted to agricultural education 

under the Smith-Hughes Act. L. S. Hawkins, Assistant Di- 
rector for Vocational Education. The Federal Board for 
Vocational Education, Bulletin 13, 1918. 

(b) Bulletin 14, 1918: Reference Material for Vocational Agricultural 

Instruction. 

(c) Bulletin 26, 1918: Agricultural Education— Some Problems in 

State Supervision. 

(d) Opportunity Monograph 33, 1919: Technical Agriculture as a 

vocation. 

2. Agricultural Education. Bibliographies: 

(a) Selected classified references for Agricultural Colleges, Experi- 
ment Stations, and Agriculture in Public Schools. Bailey and 
Cubberley in Monroe's Cycl. of Education, vol. 1, pp. 68-69. 
(6) Indices to U. S. Ed. Reports. 1867-1919. 

(c) Indices to Proc. N. E. A., 1857-1917. 

(d) Poole's Annual Index. 

(e) For complete lists of available publications of departments and 

bureaus of the Federal Government, see Price List, Superin- 
tendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. 

3. Bricker, A. B. The Teaching of Agriculture in the High Schools. N. Y. 

1916, 202 p. 

4. Carter, Louise. A School of Horticulture for Women. Jour. Associa- 

tion of Collegiate Alumnae, April 1918. Pp. 501-506. 

5. Claxton, Philander P. The United States School Garden Army. Re- 

view of Reviews. April 1918. Pp. 393-394. 

6. Colony Cure for the Feeble-Minded. Bulletin 3. 19 p. 111. Com. on 

Provision for Feeble-Minded, Philadelphia, Pa. 1917. 

7. Correlating Agriculture with Public School Subjects in Northern 

States. U. S. Department of Agriculture. Bulletin 281, 1915. 

8. Cromwell, A. D. Agricultural Education. What Is It? School and 

Society. February 9, 1918, pp. 170-172. 

9. Cubberley, E. P. and Bailey, L. H. Agricultural Education in the 

Lower Schools. Monroe's Cycl. of Education, vol. 1, pp. 64-69. 

10. Cubberley, E. P. Rural Life and Education. N. Y. 1914, 367 p. lU. 

11. Davenport, Eugene. Education for Efficiency. A discussion of cer- 

tain phases of problems of universal education with special reference 
to academic ideals. N. Y., 1914. 



234 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

12. Davenport, Eugene. History of Collegiate Education in Agriculture. 

Proc. Society for Promotion of Agricultural Science. 1907. 

13. Davenport, Eugene. Why Teach Agriculture in the Public Schools? 

lUinois Academy of Science. February 23, 1913. 

14. Davis, C. O. Continuation work in the high school. A chapter (XXII) 

in The Modern High School by Charles H. Johnston and Others. 
N. Y., 1914, 847 p. Chapter XXII includes discussion and classi- 
fication of specialized high schools, as: Technical, commercial, school 
of commerce, manual arts {hoys), 'practical arts (girls), industrial, and 
agricultural. 

15. Dean, Arthur S. Our Schools in War Time— and After. N. Y., 1918, 

335 p. Pp. 155-164 contains discussion of agriculture for city boys 
and of the New York regulations. 

16. Ellis, A. Caswell. The Teaching of Agriculture in Public Schools. 

Univ. of Texas Bulletin 85, 1906. 

17. Experiment Station Record. United States Department of Agricul- 

tiu"e. Contains numerous abstracts of publications of experiment 
stations, and kindred institutions in this and other countries. Eight 
numbers each year. Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. 

18. Federal Agencies for Education. A review, including comparison of 

U. S. Department of Agriculture and U. S. Bureau of Education. In 
Source Book, Ch. III. State and County School Administration, 
Cubberley and Elliott. N. Y., 1915, 729 p. 

19. Federal Board for Vocational Education, Statement of Policies. 

(a) Bulletin 1, 1917, 70 p. Washington D. C. 

(6) Evolution of National Systems of Vocational Re-education. 

D. C. McMurtrie. Bulletin 15, 1918. 
(c) See also § 1. 

20. Gillette, John M. Constructive Rural Sociology. An organized pres- 

entation of the phases and problems of rural life. N. Y., 1913, 301 p. 

21. Graves, Frank P. A History of Education in Modern Times. N. Y., 

1914, 410 p. 

22. Hall, G. Stanley. Educational Problems. 2 vols. N. Y., 1911. Vol. 

I, ch. VIII (pp. 540-710) contains a review of the problems of in- 
dustrial education by the world's greatest student of adolescence. 
Pp. 660-674 concern education for the farm. 

23. Hatch, K. L. The High School Course in Agriculture. University of 

Wisconsin Bulletin 594, 1913 (rev. ed.) 39 p. 

24. Hatch, K. L. and W. F. Stewart. Suggestions for School and Home 

Projects in Agriculture. University of Wisconsin Bulletin 757. 
1916, 30 p. 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 235 

25. HiU, David S. Industry and Education. New Orleans Commission 

Council 1916, 409, p. 111. Scientific agriculture, dairying, and 
horticulture for city boys, pp. 273-278. 

26. HiU, David S. An Experimental Study of Delinquent and Destitute 

Boys and notes Concerning Preventive and Ameliorative Measures 
in the United States. Commission Council, New Orleans. 130 p. 
111. 1914. Contains illustrated descriptions of the Lyman, Lin- 
colndale, St. Charles and other institutions for delinquents. 

27. Hodge, Clifton F. Nature Study and Life. N. Y., 1906, 514 p. 

28. Home Projects in Secondary Courses in Agriculture. U. S. Depart- 

ment of Agriculture, Bulletin 346, 1916. (See also 35-38.) 

29. Hummel, W. G. and B. R. Materials and Methods in High School 

Agi-iculture. N. Y., 1913, 385 p. 

30. Instruction in Agriculture in Prussia and France; Industrial Educa- 

tion in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; Advancement and Im- 
provement of Agriculture in Europe, etc. U. S. Education Report 
1896, vol. 2, pp. 1199-1297. 

31. Jordan, Whitman H. Agricultural Education. Public endowments, 

land grant acts, kinds of colleges, experiment stations, courses of in- 
struction, short courses. Monroe's Cycl. of Education, vol. 1, p, 
58-64. 

32. Journal of Delinquency. Devoted to the scientific study of problems 

related to social conduct. J. Harold Williams, Editor. Whittier 
State School, Whittier, California. Vols. I, II, and III. 

33. Massachusetts. Information Relating to the Establishment and Ad- 

ministration of County Agricultural Schools and Agricultural De- 
partments. State Board of Education, Bulletin 23, 1916, 80 p. See 
pp. 39-43. 

34. Mclntire, Ruth. The Effect of Agricultural Employment Upon School 

Attendance. Elementary School Journal. University of Chicago. 
March 1918. Pp. 533-542. 

35. Minneapohs Vocational Survey. U. S. Bureau of Labor Bulletin 199, 

1917, 592 p. Elementary agriculture and gardens for city boys, 
pp. 469-482. 

36. Nolan, Aretas W. The Teaching of Agriculture. N. Y., 1918, 277 p. 

37. O'Shea, M. V. The Dynamic Factor in Education. N. Y. 

38. Project, the Massachusetts Home Project Plan of Education. R. W. 

Stimson. U. S. Education Bulletin 579, No. 8, 1914. 

39. Project. Discussions by A. W. Nolan, in The Teaching of Agriculture. 

N. Y., 1918. See pp. 24-30, 123-131, 152, 213-223. 

40. Project, the Home Project as a Phase of Vocational Education. Bulle- 



236 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

tin 21, Federal Board for Vocational Education. September, 1918, 
43 p. 

41. Robinson, C. H. Agriculture (in the high school). In High School 

Education, Charles H. Johnston and Others. N. Y., 1912, 555 p. 
Pp. 381-396. 

42. School Life. Official organ of the U. S. Bureau of Education. Pub- 

hshed twice monthly. 1918. See December 1, 1918, No. 9., pp. 
9-10. 

43. Snedden, David. Agricultural Education. What Is It? School and 

Society. January 19, 1918, pp. 66-71. 

44. Snedden, David. Educational Sociology, A Digest and Syllabus. 

Part I, 38 p: Introduction; Part II, 20 p.: Applications to Curricula 
and Studies. Columbia University, New York, 1917. 

45. Stimson, R. W. The Massachusetts Home Project Plan. U. S. Educa- 

tion Bulletin 8, 1914. 

46. Stimson, R. W. Vocational Agricultural Education. N. Y., 1919, 

468 p. 

47. True, A. C. and Crosby, D. J. Agricultural Experiment Stations in 

Foreign Countries. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Experiment 
Stations Bulletin 112 (revised) 1904, 276 p. 

48. United States Education Report. 1916, vol. 1. Pp. 245-246. A 

proposed outline of comprehensive organization or machinery for 
agricultural education. Vol. II, pp. 322. 

49. United Slates Bureau of Education Bulletins: 

(a) Agricultural Education. J. R. Jewell. Bulletin 2, 1907, p. 

Bibliography of 123 titles. 
(6) Country Schools for City Boys. W. S. Myers, Bulletin 9, 1912. 

(c) Agricultural Instruction in Secondary Schools. Papers read at 

Third and Fourth Annual Meetings of American Association 
for the Advancement of Science. Bulletin 14, 1913, and 27, 
1914. 

(d) The Folk High Schools of Denmark, L. L. Friend. Bulletin 5, 

1914. 

(e) Stimson, R. W. (See 45). 

(/) Needed Changes in Secondary Education. C. W. Eliot and E. 
Nelson. Bulletin 10, 1916. 

{g) Vocational Secondary Education. Prepared by the Committee 
on Vocational Education of the National Education Associa- 
tion. 21, 1916. Pp. 12, 16, 44, 45, 68, 153. 

(h) Gardening in Elementary Schools. C. D. Jarvis. 74 p. Bulletin 
40, 1916. 



PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION 237 

(i) Agricultural and Rural Extension Schools in Ireland. A. C. 
Monahan, 38 p. 111. Bulletin 41, 1916. 

(j) District Agricultural Schools of Georgia. C. H. Lane and D. J. 
Crosby. 32 p. Bulletin 44, 1916. 

(k) Rural and Agricultural Education at the Panama-Pacific In- 
ternational Exposition. H. W. Foght. 112 p. III. Bulletin 
2, 1917. 

(Z) Secondary Agricultural Schools in Russia. W. S. Jesieu. 22 p. 
Bulletin 4, 1917. 

(m) Educative and Economic Possibilities of School-Directed Home 
Gardening in Richmond, Indiana. J. L. Randall. 25 p. IJI. 
6, 1917. 

(n) Garden Clubs in the Schools of Englewood, New Jersey. C. O. 
Smith, Bulletin 26, 1917, 44 p. 111. 

(ft) Institutions in the United States Giving Instruction in Agri- 
culture. A. C. Monahan and C. H. Dye. 34, 1917, 115 p. 
See p. 26. 

(p) The Township and Community High School Movement in 
Illinois. H. A. HoUister. Bulletin 35, 1917, 48 p. 111. 

(g) Vocational Teachers for Secondary Schools. What the land- 
grant colleges are doing to prepare them. C. D. Jarvis. 
Bulletin 38, 1917. 

(r) Lane, C. H. Agricultural Education during 191&-1918. Bulletin 
44, 1918, 40 p. 

50. Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades. Bulletin 13. Scientific 

Agriculture. 

51. Wilson, G. M. Instruction for Teachers of Agriculture under the 

Smith-Hughes Vocational Education Law. School and Society, 
1918, pp. 520-523. 



CHAPTER VTII 

EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES AND 

TRADES 

DifIi(Hilties in Terminology: Industries and trades; standardized defini- 
tions illustrated; vocational industrial education; industrial arts education. 

Size and Variety of Major Occupational Groups; Census data; extreme 
differentiation of industries; outline of industries and contained occupa- 
tions. 

Descriptions of Trade and Industrial Schools: Vocational, industrial 
day schools; divisions within an industrial school; analysis of departments; 
the prevocational course at Lane; proportions of shop and of academic 
work; Worcester; Williamson, uses of spare time; principles for day in- 
dustrial schools; part-time and continuation schools; continuation classes 
in New York City; varieties of part-time schooling; apprentice schools; 
general industrial school ; tendencies siunmarized. 

Problems of the Evening Schools: Evening vocational schools; European 
countries; the United States; distinct problems, constructive principles; 
the unit course defined; values weighed; the unit-course in emergency 
war-service; typical unit-courses; stdiools for miners. 

Vocational Instruction by Correspondence: Strength ani weaknesses; 
extent. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

Difficulties in Terminology 

Industries and trades. In view of different meanings cur- 
rent botli for the wortl industries and also for the word trades 
as applied to education, the use of these two terms necessitates 
some working agreement upon definitions. Industrial educa- 
tion is the more gen(nalized ('xpr(\ssion referring to preparation 
for occupations in which manual labor or skill is an important 
factor, while trade education denotes the more specialized prep- 
aration for specific mechanical trades, or operations. It is 

238 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 239 

doubtful whether the expression trade education is very useful, 
since industrial education is sufficiently comprehensive. The 
word trade in the Century Dictionary is given some ten mean- 
ings, and its etymology is confused or obscure. In secondary 
vocational education and in the interpretation of the Smith- 
Hughes Act the word trade denotes specific, skilled occupations 
involving manual skill, such as the machinist trades, the print- 
ing trades, the trade of pattern makei", the dressmaker's trade, 
trade, etc. Unfortunately coupled with this usage is the word 
trade in the U. S. Census used synonymously with commerce, 
the exchange of commodities, buying and selhng. 

The word industry similarly has more than one meaning. In 
a general sense it refers to almost any kind of human labor or 
activity. Industrial we use here to denote manufacture and 
manual activity of a productive character. However, all pro- 
ductive work is not predominantly manual, as witness the labor 
of statesmen, surgeons, physicians, ministers, writers, teachers. 
Examples of non-productive school work are these : Writing pre- 
functory themes; studying vaguely for disciplinary effect; pupils 
doing practice typewriting of a non-marketable nature, or stud- 
ents keeping books of a non-commercial character; agricultural 
students raising products that can not or will not be consumed ; 
shop students making objects for exhibit or for consignment 
to the junk-heap, etc. 

The word industrial may also refer to a growp of trades or 
occupational activities, such as the metal-working industry, the 
iron industry, the wood-working industry, the clothing industry, 
farming industries, etc. The expression "industrial school," 
in the minds of many persons suggests only a type of reform 
school or an institution for defective or unfortunate persons. 
The U. S. Education Reports classify under this term 121 state 
schools which receive children committed by public authority. 
An industrial school is properly a school teaching some trade 
or part of a trade, and may include such work as carpentry, 



240 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

mining, and training of teamsters, chauffers, barbers, machinists, 
printers, mill operatives, seamstresses, etc. Industrial schools 
or classes may be day, part-time, or evening. Schools such as the 
Williamson Free School supply lodging, food, clothing, etc., in 
addition to instruction. A review of practically all industrial 
schools existing at the time in the United States is found in the 
Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Labor 
(15) and a similar review of industrial schools in Canada, in the 
report of the Royal Commission on Industrial Training and 
Technical Education. (31) 

Standardized definitions illustrated. The Committee of 
the National Education Association on vocational secondary 
education, we have found, (40) formulated these definitions, 
with examples (A and B) : 

(A) Vocational industrial education includes "those forms 
of vocational education the direct purpose of each of which is to 
fit the individual for some industrial pursuit or trade." E. g., 
journejmien in trades and industrial pursuits are the book- 
binders, carpenters and joiners, brick masons, stone masons, 
painters, paper hangers, plasterers, plumbers, steam-fitters. 
There are also more or less specialized workers, such as box 
makers, mill operators, tobacco operatives, etc. Large numbers 
of persons in such pursuits as those of carpenter, plumber, stone 
cutter, machinist, etc., are still trained through a system of 
apprenticeship. 

Well-organized schools or classes, often called trade schools, 
are available in Boston, New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, 
Cincinnati and Milwaukee, for complete training, or for partial 
training, adjusted to the practice prevailing in the industry, 
e. g. for machinists, printers, engineers, electrical workers, 
dressmakers, milliners, etc. There are also numerous schools 
publicly or privately conducted for telephone and telegraph 
operators, linotype operators, photographers, confectioners, 
cooks. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 241 

(B) Industrial arts education signifies "those forms of train- 
ing based upon industrial pursuits and designed to enhance 
general intelligence and give vocational guidance in the field of 
industrial occupations." In these schools work is often given 
closely allied to actual trades and industrial occupations; e. g., 
fine jewelry, bric-a-brac, or pottery may be produced. Fre- 
quently industrial arts education is only a name for some type 
of manual training. Sometimes the course is known as a pre- 
vocational course. 

Size and Variety of Major Occupational Groups 

Census data. In Table III, page 70, we have indicated the 
important occupational groups. Among these are the following 
large groups: Extraction of minerals; workers, total 964,824, 
male 963,730, female 1,094. Manufacturing and mechanical indus- 
tries; workers, total 10,658,881, male 8,837,901, female, 820,980. 
Transportation; workers, total 2,637,671, male 2,531,075, female 
106,596. Domestic and personal service; workers, 3,772,174, 
male 1,241,328, female 2,530,846. Public service; workers, 
459,291, male 445,733, female 13,558, including during 1910 
large numbers of soldiers, sailors, firemen, engineers, mechan- 
ics. Of course, since the World War began these last occupa- 
tional groups have expanded to far greater numbers. Omitting 
from our present consideration the workers in agriculture 
(12,659,203), trade or commerce (3,614,670), professional service 
(1,663,569), clerical occupations (1,737,053), we observe that 
the first five great occupational groups mentioned above con- 
tain the most persons affected directly by education for mechan- 
ical trades and industries, — about half of all gainful workers in 
the country, skilled and unskilled. To this number may be 
added about 22,000,000 of home workers not included in the 
Census among those engaged in gainful occupation. 

A study of the above figures and of Table III, page 70, is of 
interest for two reasons: First, we may be enabled better to 



242 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

appreciate the large variety of mechanical occupations that are 
encountered in the effort to conduct specific industrial educa- 
tion suited to the needs of workers, prospective or employed. 
Secondly, the sizes of the occupational group for the country as 
a whole, and in each local community, afford one basis, an 
"actuarial basis" (p. 409) for planning courses, classes or equip- 
ment when subjects are in question for the industrial school. 

Extreme differentiation of industries. One should not 
understand from the above table that all of the different occupa- 
tions found in industries are there enumerated. The table is 
in condensed form, showing only the nine great occupational 
groups of the Census. Advocates of a vague or general indus- 
trial education may overlook the extreme differentiation of 
industrial occupations, while advocates of specialized trade 
training may attempt the impossible in providing adequate 
training for any occupation presented. The extreme differen- 
tiation may be demonstrated thus: We have counted the num- 
bers of occupational designations of the Census found only in 
one of the ynajor occupational groups, i. e.. Manufacture and 
Mechanical. {i^) Table XV below shows the result of the enu- 
meration. Space does not permit the printing of the specified 
occupations. For these in detail the reader is referred to the 
fourth volume of the Census. 

TABLE XV 

Outline of Certain Industries and Numbers op Occupations 

Therein in the United States 

I 

Manufacturing and Mechanical Industries in United States 

Specified 
Occupations 

Building and hand trades 64 

Chemical and allied industries — 

Fertilizer factories 20 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 243 

TABLE XV~Continued Specified 

Occupations 

Paint factories 28 

Powder, cartridge, dynamite, fuse and firework factor- 
ies 26 

Soap factories 24 

Other chemical factories 35 

Clay, glass and stone industries — 

Brick, tile and terra cotta factories 37 

Glass factories 61 

Lime, cement and gypsum factories 43 

Marble and stone yards 37 

Potteries 40 

Clothing industries — 

Suits, coats, cloaks, overalls 33 

Other clothing factories 35 

Corset factories 29 

Glove factories 23 

Wool and felt hats 65 

Shirt, collar and cuff factories 32 

Food and kindred industries — 

Bakeries 28 

Butter and cheese 20 

Candy factories 24 

Fish curing and packing 23 

Flour and grain mills 31 

Fruit and vegetable canning 22 

Slaughter and packing houses 50 

Sugar factories and refineries 30 

Other food factories 35 

Iron and steel industries — 

Agricultural implements 47 

Automobile factories 71 

Blast furnaces and steel rolling mills. 87 



244 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

TABLE XY— Continued Specified 

Occupations 

Car and railroad shops 63 

Iron foundries 63 

Ship and boat building 47 

Wagon and carriage factories 59 

Other iron and steel factories 96 

Leather industries — 

Harness and saddle factories 22 

Leather belt, leather case and pocketbook factories . . 28 

Shoe factories 78 

Tanneries 48 

Trunk factories 22 

Liquor mid beverage industries — 

Breweries 36 

Distilleries 28 

Other liquor and beverage factories 25 

Lumber and furniture industries — 

Wood box factories 32 

Furniture 57 

Piano and organ factories 50 

Saw and planing mills 59 

Other woodworking factories 55 

Metal industries, except iron and steel — 

Brass mills 62 

Clocks and watches 55 

Coffin factories 39 

Gold and silver 45 

Jewelry 46 

Lead and zinc 33 

Tin plate 36 

Tinware and enamel ware 42 

Other metal factories 48 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 245 

TABLE XY— Continued 

Specified 
Paper and pulp industries — Occupations 

Paper box factories 31 

Blank books, envelopes, tags, paper bags, etc 37 

Paper and pulp mills 60 

Printing and bookbinding — 

Printing and publishing establishments 50 

Textile industries — 

Carpet mills 52 

Cotton mills 77 

Hemp and jute mills 29 

Knitting mills 44 

Lace and embroidery 36 

Linen mills 23 

Rope and cordage factories 28 

Sail and tent factories 18 

SilkmiUs '. . . 50 

Textile dyeing, finishing and printing mills 49 

Woolen and worsted mills • . 72 

Not specified textile industries 61 

Miscellaneous industries — 

Broom and brush factories 30 

Button factories 32 

Charcoal and coke works 30 

Cigar and tobacco factories 50 

Electric light and power plants 38 

Electrical supply factories 75 

Gasworks 35 

Oil refineries 37 

Rubber factories 60 

Straw factories 30 

Turpentine distilleries ] . . . . 15 

Other miscellaneous industries 68 

Other not specified industries 54 

Not specified metal industries 64 



246 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



Descriptions of Trade and Industrial Schools 
Vocational, industrial day schools. In these schools in- 
struction is given in the day time, and so far as possible the 
actual conditions of the shop are given. The product is market- 
able, and the student performs work which is productive while 
he is learning the operations involved. Day industrial schools 
may be of the nature of high schools devoting either all or a por- 
tion of the time to trade-instruction, e. g., the Lane Techni- 
cal High School of Chicago, or the Oakland Technical High 
School, of Oakland, California, or they may be separate public 
schools such as the Worcester Independent School of Trades, or 
philanthropic institutions such as the Wentworth Institute of 
Boston, the David Ranken, Jr. School of Mechanical Trades of 
St. Louis, or the Williamson Free School for Mechanical Trades 
of Pennsylvania. 

The published statements of such schools describe in detail 
the programs, courses of study, buildings, equipment, etc. 
They may give either, what might be called elementary in- 
struction in vocations for pupils 14 years of age, or also more 
advanced instruction for pupils 16 years of age and over, as in 
the case of the Lane School, or the David Ranken Jr. School 
of Mechanical Trades, of St. Louis, Mo., or both. 

The Federal Board for the year ending June 30, 1918, gave 
out these facts regarding all-day vocational schools reporting 
in the United States. 

table XVI 
Statistics of Trade and Industrial Schools 



Region 




United 
States 


North of 
Atlantic 


Southern 


East 
Central 


West 
Central 


Pacific 


All-Day Trade 
or Industrial 
Schools 


168 


71 


17 


33 


6 


41 


Evening 
Schools 


300 


104 


24 


125 


12 


35 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 



247 



Division within an industrial school. A diagram showing 
the possible relation of the prevocational and the practical 
trades courses of such a day industrial school is seen in Figure 
VI. This represents a plan drawn by the writer for a school 
of mechanical trades for boys. In any one community the group 
of trades taught in the practical trades department should be 
determined after a thoroughgoing study of the local as well as 
of the general problem of relating education to industry. (See 
Ch. XII.) 



PRACTICAL TRADES DEPARTMENT 
For youths 16 years of age and older 

Includes: (a) Day classes, 

(b) Evening classes, 

(c) Part-time classes for workers employed. 

Occupations Taught in Following; 



Metal 

Working 

Division 



Wood 

Working 

Division 



Building 

Trades 

Division 



Printing 

Trades 

Division 



Operative 

Engineering 

Division 



PREVOCATIONAL DEPARTMENT 

For boys 14 to 16 years of age. 

Gives knowledge of tools, materials, ele- 
mentary shop practice, industrial organiza- 
tion, elementary subjects. 
Does not teach a specific trade, but helps 
toward wise choice of occupation. 
Holds and interests boys. 



Fig. VI. — Divisions within an Industrial School 



248 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Analysis of departments. The Massachusetts Board of 
Education recommends that the following terms should be 
used to designate departments of industrial schools. (23) 

DEPARTMENTS 

For purposes of record, the following terms should be used to designate departments: — 

1. Machine Shop Department. This includes: — 
(o) Training all-round machinists. 

(6) Training machine specialists. 

(c) Training machine operators. 

(d) Training tool makers. 

2. Printing t)epartment. This includes: — 
(o) Training all-round printers. 

(6) Training compositors. 

(c) Training stone men. 

(d) Training linotype and monotype operators. 

(e) Training press men. 

3. Factory Maintenance Department. 

(a) Training for employment in the maintenance work of an industrial concern (mill- 
wrights). 

4. Power Department. Training for employment in connection with the development 
or generation or distribution of power. It may include: — 

(o) Power housework. 
(6) Telephone work. 

(c) Operation of boilers and engines. 

(d) Elementary electrical wiring. 

5. Electrical Department. Training for employment in the control and distribution of 
electrical power, which may include: — 

(a) Training wire men. 
(6) Training line men. 

(c) Training telephone operatives in the maintenance department. 

(d) Power housework. 

6. Steam Engineering Department. Training for employment in connection with the 
care and operation of steam and gas engine plants. 

7. Sheet Metal Department. Training for employment in sheet metal work, both ar- 
chitectural and shop work. 

8. Automobile Repair Department. Training for employment in the overhauling, ad- 
justing and repairing of automobiles. 

9. Pattern Making Department. Training for employment as pattern makers. 

10. House Carpentry Department. (In general outside the shop.) Training for employ- 
ment in house carpentry, in occupations carried on essentially outside the shop and largely 
of an assembly character. 

11. Shop Carpentry Department. Training for occupations in the production of articles 
of wood essentially carried on inside the shop, essentially productive occupations rather 
than assembly occupations. A department so designated could probably include: — 

(a) Pattern making. 

(b) General shop work. 

(c) Specialized training on special woodworking machines. 

12. Bookbinding Department. Training for occupations connected with the operation 
of a bindery order given to boys or girls might include: — 

(a) Folding. 
(6) Setting. 

(d) Stapling. 

(d) Binding. 

(e) Tooling and lettering. 

13. Machine Drafting Department. Training for employment in the drafting room of a 
machine production concern. 

14. Architectural Drafting Department. Training for employment in architectural 
drawing offices. 

15. General Education. 

(o) Personal hygiene, occupational diseases and accidents. 

(b) Citizenship training. 

(c) Cultural subjects. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 249 

The prevocational course at Lane. An example of an 
American public school observing the distinction between pre- 
vocational day courses and practical day courses is seen in the 
Lane Technical School of Chicago. Here follows an abstract, 
of the statement of the Lane program, developed under Mr. 
Bogan : 

The Prevocational Course aims to give these boys a new start in an environment of 
older and larger boys, and in classes where new interests are aroused through new purposes 
and definite work. The administration is flexible and special opportunities are given to 
ambitious students who wish to pursue the same subject in more than one class. Non- 
essentials are eliminated and the work is especially designed for boys who wish to make up 
deficiencies in scholarship or to pursue special courses in shop. Individual likea and dis- 
likes are obsen^ed and guided. Many of the boys work in upper and lower grades at the 
same time. Another encouragement that is offered the boy is "irregular advancement" 
as soon as his disposition and work show that he is outstripping hia class. 

The course of study serves individual as well aa class needs. The shop work is diversified 
and so arranged that a pupil may spend a few weeks in woodshop, a few weeks at electric 
wiring, then turn his attention to forge or printing, and so on until he finds the particular 
occupation that attracts him. The course of study follows: 

Mechanical Drawing One period a day 

English " " " " 

Mathematics " " " " 

History 1 

Civics > combination " " " " 

Geography J 

Gymnasium " " " " 

Woodwork Two " " " 

Foundry " " " " 

Forge " " " 

Electricity " " " " 

Printing " " " " 

House Construction " " " " 

Machine work " " " " 

The eighth grade has four (45 min.) periods of shopwork each day. The seventh grade 
has two (45 min.) periods of shopwork each day. 

The principles of correlation are strongly emphasized in the academic work. In mathe- 
matics the plan is to give a ready command of the principles dealing with shop and factory 
problems. Essential facts of industrial and civic life and research work, supplemented by 
the stereopticon, characterize the department of history and civic. The English depart- 
ment by concrete and practical methods aims to develop a senee of the unity and organiza- 
tion of the various industrial activities. The informality and freedom of the discussion 
bring out the best in the nature of the boys. There is found ^eans of expression for the 
bashful and backward lad in the practical shop work whose processes he has no difficulty 
in discussing as a part of his exercises in his English classes. 

Proportions of shop and of academic work. The schoolman 
who organizes trade courses for the first time may be puzzled 
by the practical difficulties of articulating shop work and acad- 
emic work in a day school. Time schedules must vary accord- 
ing to climatic conditions, the ages and capacities of pupils, and 
the occupations taught. 



250 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



Worcester. The Worcester Independent Trades School of 
Worcester, Mass., for boys over sixteen years of age, undertakes 
practical trades instruction for youths and young men. A 
schedule of forty-four hours per week is maintained. Figure VII 
below, exhibits the proportions of time devoted to academic 
work and shop work respectively as worked out by former Prin- 
cipal Fish. The formal, academic work comprises commercial 

EACH TERM CONSISTS OF 14 WEEKS 
TERM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 



^ - 



'///////// 

y ® 


KWAW' 


' ■ --■ v.vi.w;/A'/, 


"commercial' m\\Hl'.W^/^W/M^66mV^v\'w, 


•77777, 


^ii'^i^if^'^AWiii^' 


} 






COST ACCOUNTING 












U 1 M 1 11. 1 








NhTURAL 


SCIENCE 












FORMULAS 


pEOMETR, 


: 










ENGL 


ISH 












1 


HISTORY 


r COMM. 

TION 


COMMERCIAL 
GEOGRAPHY 






GOOn CITI^EN.SHIP 








- 




1 


DRAWING 









JIG 


1 1 


; 






SHC 


F INSTR 


JCTION 




■1 FIXTl 
DESIGN 




: 










SHOP 


WORK 










-; 


p^ 








M 


kKING UF 


LOST Til 


IE 











DIVISION OF WORK WORCESTER TRADE SCHOOL 

Figure VII 

arithmetic, bookkeeping, cost accounting, commercial law, shop 
computations, geometrical formulas, study of triangles, natural 
science, history of commerce and invention, commercial geogra- 
phy, civics, drawing, jig and fixture design, and English. The 
other and the major part consists of shop instruction, shop work. 
Four hours per week are allotted for "making up lost time." 

Williamson. Reference already has been made to the 
Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades, in relation to 
agriculture (pp. 224). The general plan published for the divi- 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 251 

sions of time spent in different departments of the Williamson 
School is shown in the outline below. The preponderance 
of time spent in shop or closely related work is to be noted. 

THE ACADEMIC COURSE 

with the time spent in the different depahtments is outlined below 

First Year 

April 1st to August 1st 

Hours per week Hours per week 

Arithmetic 3 Grammar 2 

Geography — General Review 2 American Literature 2 

U. S. History — Review 2 Vocal Music 1 

Physiology—General Review 2 Mechanical Drawing 6 

In Shop 20 

September 1st to April 1st 
Hours per week Hours per week 

Arithmetic 3 American Literature 2 

Algebra 2 Vocal Music 1 

Physics 2 Mechanical Drawing 6 

Civil Gov't. — . .General Review 2 In Shop 20 

Grammar 2 

Second Year 
April 1st to August 1st 
Hours per week Hours per week 

Arithmetic — Mensuration 3 English Literature 2 

Algebra 2 Vocal Music 1 

Grammar 2 Mechanical Drawing 6 

Physics 2 In Shop 20 

Chemistry 2 

September 1st to April 1st 

Hours per week Hours per week 

Algebra 3 Enghsh Literature 2 

Geometry 2 Vocal Music 1 

Grammar 2 Mechanical Drawing 6 

Physics 2 

Chemistry 2 In Shop 20 

Third Year 
April 1st to August 1st 
Hours per week Hours per week 

Geometry 3 Commercial Course 1 

Trigonometry 3 Mechanical Drawing 8 

Physics 3 In Shop 23 

Chemistry 2 

September 1st to April Ist 
In Shop, hours per week 43 

Evening Recitations 

Strength of Materials, hours per week 1}^ 

Steam, Gas and Electrciity 1 J^ 

Worcester and Williamson represent highly organized types 
of schools for mechanical trades with work clearly differentiated 



252 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

for more mature boys preparing for definite occupations in the 
industries. The prevocational idea, included in the aims of 
the Lane Technical School of Chicago, Illinois, and of the David 
Ranken Jr. School of Mechanical Trades, St. Louis, Missouri, 
is not included in the more advanced work of Worcester and of 
Williamson. 

Uses of spare time. In the arrangement of programs and 
schedules for industrial education, it should not be forgotten 
that the uses of spare time by students and by employees are of 
grave significance for both prospective and employed workers 
in industry. Individual or collective life reduced to a grind in 
behalf of a mythical efficiency is not worth much to individuals 
or to society, and can not endure. With the emphasis upon the 
eight-hour day for labor, practical idealism will not overlook the 
provisions for the use of the six or eight hours of leisure of the 
prospective or actual citizen. Healthful habits of mind and of 
body are the most highly desirable products of any school. 
Recreation is a necessity, and discrimination needs to be exer- 
cised in the matter of provisions for recreation, — whether the 
provisions be public, private, or commercial, or philanthropic. 
The right uses of spare time are problems of import to student, 
teacher, employee, employer, indeed to all thinking persons. 

Principles for day industrial schools. There are those who 
believe that practically all adolescents should remain in school 
until eighteen years of age, and that such attendance would 
promote both individual and economic or social welfare. We 
are constantly faced with the fact, however, that the majority 
of persons who enter industry do so earlier than the age of 
eighteen, most of them with limited elementary education, 
and without skill, and immature. There is evidently need of 
day vocational schools for those who will enter industry early, 
although an all-day industrial school can seldom teach a full 
trade. Experience shows, however, that it can do much to pre- 
pare boys and girls over fourteen years of age for entrance into 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 253 

the trades and to minister both to their vocational and also 
their civic needs. 

The Committee on Vocational Education of the National 
Education Association recognizing this need endeavored to 
safeguard the operation of the all-day industrial school by sug- 
gesting principles or standards by which they may be* safely 
established and conducted. These principles are twelve in 
number, as follows: 

In these schools a close relation must be maintained between theory 
and practice. Practical shopwork must be supplemented by related 
studies in English, civics, industrial history and geography, and ele- 
mentary mathematics, as well as by the science and mathematics 
underlying the trades. In this way the school will make for intelligent 
citizenship as weU as for superior workmanship in the years to come. 
Shop conditions must be approached as nearly as possible in the school, 
and in general the following conditions should be met in the school: 

1. Not less than one-half the time of the pupil should be given to 
actual shopwork, including such calculations and shop drawing as 
may be necessary to bring the projects of the pupils in the shop to 
successful completion. 

2. The shopwork must be conducted on a productive or commercial 
basis as distinguished from the ordinary manual-training method of 
handling pupils in the shop. 

3. The instruction must tend to become individual as distinguish 
from group or class instruction. 

4. The shopwork must be carried on as nearly like the work done in 
a first-class commercial shop as conditions will permit. 

5. The results of the pupils' work should be useful articles which 
can be utilized in the school system or have a market value. 

6. The assignment of work to a pupil in the shop should be by pro- 
jects or jobs. 

7. The progress of the pupil through the shop and school should be 
measured by the projects or jobs which he has completed in a satis- 
factory manner. 

8. The classroom instruction in the related academic subjects, such 
as arithmetic, drawing, and science, should be closely connected at 



254 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

every possible point with his shoproom experience in order that it may 
be of immediate practical vakie to the pupil. 

9. Every day industrial school should plan for at least a one year's 
course and for not more than a four year's course. 

10. Every year's work should, so far as possible, be a unit unto itself. 
Each year's work should be organized and administered in a way that 
would confer upon the pupil a definite value in vocational training, so 
that if he should leave the school at the end of the year the instruction 
could be used by him as a tool in trade for better wage earning. 

11. Not less than three (60-minute) hours should be devoted each 
day to actual shopwork. The school session should not be less 
six nor more than eight hours, not counting the recess and noon 
periods. 

12. So far as feasible, instruction should be given in Enghsh, history, 
civics, and other appropriate subjects which would tend to make the 
pupils self-helpful, intelligent, and worthy citizens. The end of the 
vocational school should not be merely to produce a technically com- 
petent workman, but a citizen of the State who seeks not only to ad- 
vance his own welfare through his work, but who is ready and willing 
to place his efforts at the service of his community and State. (40) 

Part-time and continuation schools. These schools or 
classes are attended for a Hmited number of hours per week, or 
during alternate weeks, by persons who also are employed in 
industrial shops. Part-time vocational schools are particularly 
intended for students from fourteen to eighteen years of age 
for whom an arrangement has been made for the gaining of 
practical experience in some industrial establishment. The 
cooperative plans now in operation in New York City and also 
in Cincinnati are examples of the part-time system. 

The continuation school is intended for the improvement of 
workers regularly employed in industry. It may be either (a) 
a trade extension school which gives instruction or practice di- 
rectly related to the daily occupation of the pupil, or (b) a trade 
preparatory class, which helps toward a new occupation. The 
actual content of courses given to workers in continuation or 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 255 

improvement class varies widely, from the elements of reading 
and arithmetic to specialized trade and technical knowledge and 
skill. Continuation classes are found in railroad shops, fac- 
tories, manufacturing plants, and department stores. In this 
country they are an outgrowth of experience showing that 
evening instruction is not very profitable for working children 
under or about sixteen years of age. In New York City a com- 
pany usually furnishes equipment and the Board of Education 
the supplies. Hours of instruction vary from three to ten per 
week. In some cases the classes meet one hour per day; in some 
there are two-hour sessions twice a week; in some, two hours 
daily five times a week. With few exceptions the pupils are em- 
ployees of the company. In nearly all cases the company pays 
the workers for full time occupied in class attendance. The fol- 
lowing exhibit from the Superintendent's Report gives a brief 
statement of continuation classes in New York City, under 
supervision of the Board of Education. (Table XVII, pp. 256- 
257). 

The term "continuation school" in America is often used 
comprehensively or loosely to indicate any kind of education 
undertaken by people employed. In this sense continuation 
schools embrace apprenticeship education, part-time education, 
evening schools, correspondence schools, university extension, 
etc. 

Varieties of part-time schooling. The continuation school 
is, of course, a variety of part-time schooling in which the in- 
dustrial or commercial training predominates. Part-time 
schooling has developed in many forms. Young people em- 
ployed are released for regular periods, either certain hours per 
week, or sometimes alternate weeks, in order to obtain, either 
in shop or in other schools, instruction and practice related to 
their occupations. Some continuation schools aim to utilize the 
continuation period of instruction only to further general 
education, rather than to promote direct mastery of processes, 



256 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

TABLE XVII 



Name of Firm 



(1) Abraham & Straus 

(2) B. Altman & Co 

(3) Hotel Astor 

(4) B. & O. R. R. Co 

(5) H. Batterman Co 

(6) Bedford Co 

(7) Hotel Biltmore 

(8) Bloomingdale Bros 

(9) Bronx House 

(10) Bush Terminal 

(11) P. F. ColUer & Son 

(12) Educational Alliance 

(13) J. B. Greenhut & Co 

(14) R. Hoe & Co 

( 15) Kops Bros 

(16) Frederick Loeaer Co 

(17) L. I. R. R. Co 

(18) Lord & Taylor 

(19) R. H. Macy & Co 

(20) Hotel Majestic 

(21) Manhattan Hotel 

(22) Hotel McAlpin 

(23) James McCreery & Co 

(24) Metropolitan Engineering Co 

(25) A. I. Namm & Sons 

(26) N. Y. Butchers' Dressed Meat Association. 

(27) Public School 4 

(28) Richmond L. & R. R. Co 

(29) Rothenberg & Co 

(30) Sherry's 



Location 



420 Fulton St 

5th Ave., 34th St 

Broadway, 44th St 

Clifton, S. I 

Broadway 

1055 Broadway 

Madison Ave., 43rd St 

.3rd Ave., 59th St 

1637 Washington Ave 

Building No. 7, 34th St 

416 West 13th St 

197 East Broadway 

18th St., 6th Ave 

504 Grand St 

120 Ea.st 16th St 

482 Fulton St 

Morris Park, L. I 

5th Ave., 38th St 

Broadway, 34th St 

72nd St., Central Park West 

Madison Ave., 42nd St 

34th St., Broadway 

5 West 34th St 

1250 Atlantic Ave 

Fulton St 

.39th St., nth Ave 

176th St., Washington Ave.. 

Livingston, S. I 

34 West 14th St 

44th St., 5th Ave 



Borough 



Brooklyn. . 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Richmond. 

Brooklyn . 

Brooklyn . 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Bronx 

Brooklyn . 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Brooklyn . 

Queens. . . . 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 

Brooklyn . 

Brooklyn . 

Manhattan 

The Bronx. 

Richmond. 

Manhattan 

Manhattan 



or technical operations. In the practical administration of 
part-time day schools pupils either spend a specified number of 
hours of a day or week both in the school and also in the indus- 
trial establishment, or by means of alternating teams of boys, 
a pair or group of pupils is one week in the school, while the 
corresponding group is in an industrial establishment. 

Examples of continuation schools of various kinds are found in 
New York, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Penn- 
sylvania, in fact in nearly all of the great cities of America, — as 
New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Fitchburg, Cleveland, Minne- 
apolis, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, etc. The continuation 
school idea was developed remarkably in some European coun- 
tries before the World War. E. g,, the continuation schools of 
Munich under the direction of George Kerschensteiner have 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 



257 



Continuation Classes 


IN New York 


ClT-J 


, 1915-1916 




Business 


Classes 


Hours 
per 
Week 


Subject 


Register of Classes 


Total 


M.* 


w.* 


Boys 


Girls 


Jrs.** 


Department store 

Department store 


1 
2 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
2 
2 
2 
1 
4 
1 
4 
1 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
2 
1 


7J^ 
15 

8 

6 
10 

8 
10 
20 
15 
10 
36 

7M 
33 

5 
10 

8 
10 
10 

4 

4 

4 

5 

6 
10 

4 

4 

4 

8 

4 


C. B. (1) 
C.B. 

E. F. (2) 
Trade (3) 
C.B. 
C.B. 
E.F. 
C.B. 
E.F. 
C.B. 

D. S. (4) 
E.F. 
C.B. 
Trade 

E. & T. (5) 
C.B. 
Trade 
C.B. 
C.B. 
E.F. 
E.F. 
E.F. 
C.B. 
Trade 
C.B. 
E.F. 
E.F. 
Trade 
C.B. 
E.F. 


"i 

'33 
-3 

1 

"ie 


22 
11 

44 

"53 
21 
40 
43 

138 


ii' 

'is 
5 


23 

' '5' 
'29' 


■23' 


45 (1) 

52 (2) 

. .49 (3) 




2 


53 (4) 


Department store 

Department store 


90 (5) 
22 (6) 




6 

28 




46 (7) 


Department store 


71 (8) 
154 (9) 


Manufacturing 


2 
■ 'e' 


4 

10 
5 


66 

" 97' 


72 (10) 


ISO 


17 
56 


27 (11) 


Social settlement 

Department store 

Printing machinery .... 
Corset manufacturers. . 

Department store 

Machine shop 

Department store 

Department store 


197 (12) 
97 (13) 


45 

7 

"33 

■36 
37 


42 

'"2 
39 


84 
4 

31 ' 
6 




129 (14) 


3 

25 

'27' 
40 


5 
25 

1 
26 


27 (15) 
92 (16) 
65 (17) 
61 (18) 
79 (19) 
30 (20) 




10 
79 








47 (21) 






4 

48 




83 (22) 


Department store 

Machine shop 

Department store 


48 (23) 


34 
"30 

70 

80 

2 

27 


•ie 


39 


73 (24) 


4 


130 


150 (28) 
30 (26) 




2 


1 






73 (27) 








80 (28) 


Department store 


34 
23 


3 


6 


i 


46 (29) 
50 (30) 













* Over 18 years of age. 
■(2) English to foreigners. 
(5) English and textiles. 



** Under 16 years of age. 
(3) Trade subjects. 



(1) Common branches. 
(4) Domestic science. 



been upheld frequently as models of efficiency and of adaptation 
to local industrial needs compatible with good citizenship. In 
England continuation education found development in exten- 
sive systems of evening schools. The National Government has 
assisted these schools by generous grants. In America much 
of the continuation work in cities has been of the evening 
school type, and a great variety of continuation work is being 
done. 

Part-time schooling (except in the sense of home projects, 
etc.) is not adapted to elementary education because of the 
tender age of the elementary pupils. With regard to the alter- 
nating-team plan of part-time industrial education, wherein one 



258 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

group or individual is in the shop while a paired group or individ- 
ual is in the school week by week, union labor has objected on the 
ground that the system trains two persons for each job. Em- 
ployers or foremen have objected to the alternating system be- 
cause it may cause disorganization of shop routine and waste 
of materials. 

Apprentice schools. In the endeavor to provide a substitute 
for apprenticeship manufacturers in some instances have or- 
ganized under private management apprenticeship and co- 
operative industrial schools. (26) Frequently large firms or cor- 
porations have maintained the apprenticeship schools, the 
general plan of which is to train a boy in actual shop work and 
at the same time to give necessary instruction in mechanical 
drawing, mathematics, etc. As a rule each pupil or indentured 
boy is required to attend the school, which is situated in the 
works, during a certain number of hours per week. He is paid 
for his time, the wages being increased about every six months, 
if he makes good progress. The cooperative industrial school 
offers through a combination of employers what the apprentice- 
ship school offers through the efforts of a single employer or cor- 
poration. 

Objections to these private enterprises for industrial educa- 
tion are numerous, notwithstanding some excellent results that 
have accrued. Such schools have enlarged opportunity where 
regular public schools have failed in some localities. Foremen 
and employers have objected to part-time plans because inter- 
rupted work and readjustments of shop schedules cause bother 
and loss. Employers have sometimes abandoned private efforts 
to train employees because competitors who do not put forth 
such efforts reap the fruit by employing the former pupil- 
workers. A serious objection alleged is that such schools are 
too much under the domination of employers, or of employers' 
interest; that the schools may give apprentices only a highly 
specialized training making for high efficiency in the employers' 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 259 

establishment, but for practical uselessness elsewhere, and for 
lack of adaptability or resourcefulness. 

Objections to the privately controlled continuation school, 
as well as scarcity of skilled labor, higher wages, competition 
for workers, etc., have brought new impetus to the continuation 
school controlled by public school authorities. In many states 
employers, employees, and educators working in cooperation 
are developing new types of continuation schools and part-time 
schools. Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, In- 
diana, Pennsylvania, Iowa, and other states have developed 
continuation and part-time schools. These may be found not- 
ably in our large American cities, — New York City, Boston, 
Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, Rochester, Milwaukee, 
Cincinnati; also in Springfield, Mass., Bridgeport, Conn., 
Dubuque, Iowa, Centralia, Illinois, etc., under the auspices of 
the public schools. 

General industrial school. There are cities of less than 
25,000 inhabitants which can not advantageously establish a 
specialized trade school, for there may not exist local opportun- 
ities for employment of all who are trained in such a school. 
This fact, and the provision of the Smith-Hughes law which 
allows state boards to modify the conditions of industrial schools 
have created a demand for a "general industrial school." Kelly 
has endeavored to show that an inviting opportunity exists in 
the general industrial school to develop a type of vocational 
training that will help boys of the small city toward industrial 
success whether they work at home or go abroad. (18) The 
Federal Board has offered these constructive suggestions con- 
cerning the general industrial school : 

In planning the course of study for such a school, it is necessary to 
make a careful study of all the industries of the community, to pick 
out certain ones which offer the greatest opportunities, and to endeavor 
to give more training in each of these, with the aim of picking out from 
the different occupations such common elements as may exist. The 



260 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

instruction will be as specific as possible with the equipment and diver- 
sified aims, but will necessarily seek for common interests upon which 
to base its development. For example, in practically every trade or 
industrial pursuit a knowledge of drawing as related to that pursuit 
is advantageous, and the common element in the drawing of different 
industrial occupations is considerable. Consequently it is possible in 
the general industrial school to give a course in mechanical drawing 
which will prove of considerable value to the students who take it, 
no matter what industry they enter. It is true also, that the skill 
acquired in handling tools in any school shop will carry over to some 
extent into several occupations. A unit trade school will undoubtedly 
give more efficient instruction in any one trade, but by careful selection 
a teacher may sift from the unit trades various skilled processes that 
depend somewhat upon a basic ability of the worker to use his hands 
and his head for mechanical production. (lie) 

Tendencies summarized. Rapid changes during recent 
years render impracticable any sweeping statement regarding 
the present or future development of continuation and part-time 
industrial education. The Massachusetts Board of Education 
set forth during 1915 certain conclusions, after reviewing events 
since the historic report of the Massachusetts Commission on 
Industrial and Technical Education. They are of interest as 
having been written in the cahner years before our entrance into 
war: 

1 . Consideration of the pertinent facts regarding the needs and the 
employment of minors fourteen to sixteen years of age results in the 
following:— 

(A) The evident trend of industry is to exclude the fourteen to six- 
teen year old minor from skilled industry. These minors are forced to 
enter employment as unskilled workers. 

(B) There is an increasing demand that the compulsory period of 
education be raised to sixteen years. 

(C) Many of the group of minors from fourteen to sixteen years of 
age find that economic necessity demands that they contribute to 
their own support; they must find some remunerative employment. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 261 

(D) The regular school is not organized to meet the special needs 
of the group of minors who would be kept in school should the com- 
pulsory age be raised, 

(E) Permissive legislation will not result in many municipalities 
taking advantage of the present continuation school law. 

(F) Four hours a week for two years is not long enough for continu- 
ation school pupils to secure adequate results. It is, however, all that 
we should demand at this time. 

(G) Three types of educational opportunity should be furnished 
in continuation schools: — 

a. General education. 

b. Pre- vocational education (for choice of a calling). 

c. Vocational education (for training in the chosen calling). 

2. Consideration of the ways and means of improving the condi- 
tions set forth in these conclusions leads us to make certain definite 
recommendations . 

(A) That State- wide compulsory continuation schools should be 
provided for all employed minors of fourteen to sixteen years of age. 

(B) That employed minors fourteen to sixteen years of age should 
be required to attend a public continuation school for four hours a 
week. 

(C) That the best results will be secured from compulsory continua- 
tion schools when the opportunity for attendance is continuous through- 
out the year, or at least for forty-eight weeks. 

(D) That unemployed minors fourteen to sixteen years of age who 
have left the regular public schools and are temporarily out of employ- 
ment should be required to attend the compulsory continuation schools 
for the full session of such schools each day during their unemploy- 
ment. 

(E) That municipalities having a population of 50,000 or more 
should be required to maintain the three types of schools referred to 
in conclusion (G) , and that all other municipalities should be permitted 
to maintain these three types of schools. 

(F) That municipalities having a population of 10,000 and less 
than 50,000, and having not less than 50 employed minors fourteen 
to sixteen years of age, should be required to maintain general improve- 
ment continuation schools. (23) 



262 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Problems of the Evening Schools 

Evening vocational schools. One feature of value in evening 
schools is the greater adaptation to the needs of individuals 
and of the community than is usual in conventional day schools. 
Such schools may offer instruction in (1) general elementary or 
secondary courses; (2) industrial, commercial, and professional 
courses; (3) informational and cultural subjects. 

European countries. Evening schools are found in many 
countries. In England, the first evening schools probably were 
private schools. In the eighteenth century the Society for the 
Promotion of Christian Knowledge recommended "masters and 
employers to appoint some hours in the evenings of certain days 
of the week to teach such grown persons to read as had neg- 
lected to study."(16) Enlargement of the humble beginnings 
has continued until the present day through the stimulus of 
economic pressure, recognition of needs, and influence of gilds, 
and by parliamentary acts and grants. By the Code of 1905 the 
subjects of the night schools were grouped in six divisions: 
(1) Preparatoiy and general; literary and commercial. (2) Art. 
(3) Manual. (4) Science. (5) Home occupations and indus- 
tries. (6) Physical training. In France the evening schools 
have constituted an important part of the continuation schools. 
The classes are divided into: (1) cours d'adultes, classes for 
illiterates; (2) cours complementaires, continuation classes; (3) 
cours techniques, technical classes. It is said that the evening 
schools in Germany owe their origin to the estabUshment, as 
early as 1569, of Sunday-schools for teaching religion to 
youths. Lessons in reading and writing afterwards were 
added. Gradually this instruction was given on week day 
evenings as well, and until the majority of such schools became 
evening schools. They constituted before the war an impor- 
tant part of the general system of industrial education in 
Germany. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 263 

United States. In the United States private and endowed 
institutions have contributed tremendously to the practical 
education of workers, e. g., such as the Ohio Mechanics' Institute 
of Cincinnati (1878); New York Trade School (1881); Pratt 
Institute of Brooklyn (1877); Drexel Institute of Philadelphia 
(1891); Carnegie Technical Schools of Pittsburg (1900); Virginia 
Mechanics' Institute of Richmond (1905); Franklin Union of 
Boston (1905). The William Hood Dunwoody Industrial In- 
stitute of Minneapolis (1914). The Young Mens' Christian 
Association and the Young Womens' Christian Association 
have done pioneer work in the establishment of evening schools. 
The greatest development, however, has been in the public 
schools. The public evening schools now reach: (1) Those 
deficient in the rudiments, whether they be foreigners or 
Americans; (2) young workers who have had elementary or 
high school training and who desire to continue their education, 
whether for (a) college entrance, (b) greater proficiency in com- 
mercial, (c) technical, (d) trade work; (3) men or women in 
business who desire special help along special lines, e. g., sales- 
manship, commercial law; (4) household arts courses, e. g., for 
young women in industry. 

Distinct problems. The problems of evening schools are 
numerous and distinct. There is the matter of fatigue, physical 
and mental, which leads some investigators to question the 
pedagogical or hygienic value of instruction given to tired work- 
ers coming from labor in industry. It is agreed that night school 
work is not suitable to boys and girls under 16 years of age, if 
indeed to those under 18. Quahfications of teachers are not 
standardized, there being a great variety of men and women 
employed, such as young lawyers, architects, engineers who 
are supplementing a meagre income and who have no idea of 
becoming professional teachers, regular teachers from high or 
elementary public schools, already weary from a day's work, 
tradesmen and journeymen, skilled in industry but without 



264 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

pedagogical and cultural education. Poor or irregular attend- 
ance is a common trouble. E. g., in Minneapolis during 1914- 
1915 out of 457 students enrolled in evening industrial classes, 
107 remained less than five nights after paying one dollar for 
books and materials. In the commercial classes 94 out of 786 
remained, and in domestic science and art 219 out of 1,242 re- 
mained, '' Apparently, many left the work from disappointment 
as to instruction," says the Minneapolis Survey. Especially 
poor was the showing of elementary instruction in the trades to 
mixed groups. 

Constructive principles. Certain aspects common to well- 
conducted evening vocational classes have been emphasized 
constructively, as follows: (1) Vocational courses are most 
effective when placed under the supervision of a competent 
vocational director. (2) Qualifications of teachers should in- 
clude (a) sufficient knowledge of trade, (b) good manners, and 
good appearance, and good English, (c) health, (d) character, 
(e) ability to teach and organize. (3) Adequate illumination, 
ventilation, and hygenic standards are necessary. (4) Standard 
reporting or record systems should be used. (5) Regular attend- 
ance should be encouraged by useful adaptation of the work in 
hand, appeal to interest and personal cooperation, and require- 
ment of a small deposit from the pupils. (6) Pupils should be 
carefully grouped according to aim, occupation, age, experience, 
and factors determining a homogeneous group. (7) Evening 
classes should be small. (8) Short, unit courses are desirable for 
vocational instruction in evening schools for mature workers. (27) 

The unit-course defined. In the fields of industrial, home- 
making, and agricultural education, short courses, each com- 
plete in itself and dealing with a teachable phase of a trade or 
other occupation, have been worked out. The unit-course is 
defined as an "intensive form of training and instruction in- 
tended to meet in a lunited number of lessons a specific need of 
a particular group of workers." 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 265 

Short unit-courses are not intended to be short-cuts to a 
superficial knowledge of a trade, but rather, devices for meeting 
the special needs of workers already employed. The courses are 
given as trade-extension work in part-time and evening schools. 
The great variety of employments, as well as of individual 
capacities, makes difficult any plan for imparting trade in- 
struction to workers in the mass. The short unit-course has 
proved successful in reaching many groups of individual work- 
ers. A bulletin of the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics thus 
classifies the groups needing unit-courses: 

(1) Specialized machine hands, who while running one machine de- 
sire to learn the operation of another. E. g., a planer hand is enabled 
to operate a universal grinder in the Newton, Mass. Trade School. 

(2) Skilled workmen who desire to meet new or recent demands of 
their trade. E. g. : A piano tuner is enabled to learn the mechanism of 
the player piano in the Murray Hill Evening Trade School, New York 
City. 

(3) Operators or workers in low-grade skilled and unskilled occu- 
pations, where there are "best ways of doing things," "tricks of the 
trade," or special information not available in the shop. E. g.: The 
training of chocolate dippers in the school of a candy factory. 

(4) Workers on special jobs desiring to prepare for promotion. E.g.: 
A cleaner or finisher in the dress and waist industry who desire to be- 
come an examiner or inspector. In a furniture factory of Grand Rapids, 
Mich., a rod maker desires to become a cabinet maker, and may be 
helped to this end in the evening trade school. 

(5) Skilled workers who can be persuaded only to take brief and 
direct courses. E. g.: Courses for steam engineers, 40 lessons each, 
in the industrial school at New Bedford, Mass. (33) 

Values weighed. The disadvantages in unit-courses are 
numerous. For instance, a student may be led to beUeve 
falsely that in a small number of lessons he is "learning a trade." 
Suitable teachers are difficult to find and to retain. Some may 
hold in contempt the apparent absence of cultural elements in 
courses giving specific facts or definite skills. 



266 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

The advantages potential in well-conducted unit industrial 
courses are numerous, and, in substance, are thus summed up by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics: 

1. The work completed is an asset to individual and to em- 
ployer. 

2. The time of the pupil is economized. 

3. Conditions for admission are, nature of worker's need, 
his probable ability to profit by instruction, — rather rigid, 
academic tests. 

4. The weakness of general evening schools, — the deplorable 
dropping out of pupils during a long course, is avoided. The 
unit is small, a specific thing is to be done, and the instruction 
to this end is organized and complete, — facts which tend to hold 
the pupil. 

5. Series of unit courses in the same subject, experience 
shows, tend to interest the pupil to go on after one course. 

6. Content of the course is first determined by going to the 
industry, and specific needs of individuals are also considered 
at registration. 

7. Short units are especially adapted to the mature worker, 
who is likely to know what he needs. 

8. Chaotic conditions in some evening industrial schools are 
supplanted by classification of aims. 

9. Unit systems enable the school to discover new groups to 
be served. 

10. Unit courses are flexible. A well-rounded training may 
be approximated by taking enough unit courses. 

The flexibility of the unit system as compared with a regular 
school course is thus illustrated by grouping the letters A, B, C, 
and D. 

If the letters A, B, C, D represent progressive steps in the usual 
school course, there is only one point at which the pupil can enter; 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 267 

that is at A. If he wishes to enter at C he must pass an examination 
in A and B. 

If these letters each represent a unit course, it is seen that by the 
flexible organization of these units, a pupil may enter at any position 
of A, B, C, or D for the desired instruction, and still, if he wishes, com- 
plete an entire course equal in practical content to the regular school 
course, 

ABCD 

BCDA 

CDAB 

D A B C (33) 

The unit-course in emergency war-service. The critical 
need of thousands of mechanics, technicians, and Army work- 
ers, brought into remarkably rapid and satisfactory develop- 
ment types of unit courses. War-emergency courses were not 
strictly trade courses in the sense that they prepared men for 
occupations as carried out in civil life, but were intended to be 
short, direct courses of instruction to help fit men to meet spe- 
cific demands of operations and processes carried on under war 
conditions. The demands and requirements might or might not 
approximate the requirements of similar work in civilian occupa- 
tions. The Federal Board for Vocational Education issued a 
series of bulletins outlining a wide range of such courses, e. g., 
for training conscripted men for service as radio and buzzer 
operators (No. 2); for emergency training in ship-building 
(No. 3); for motor-truck drivers and chauffeurs (No. 7); for 
machine-shop occupations, blacksmithing, sheet-metal work- 
ing, pipe fitting (No. 8) ; for electricians, telephone repairmen, 
linemen, cable splicers (No. 9) ; for gas-engine, motor-car, motor- 
cycle repairmen (No. 10); for oxy-acetylene welders (No. 11); 
for air plane mechanics, engine repairmen, woodworkers, riggers, 
and sheet-metal workers. 

Typical unit-courses. The bulletins referred to above con- 
tain outlines of emergency unit-courses comprising a small 



268 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

volume. A bulletin of the U. S. Department of Labor contains 
outlines of typical courses that have been given in many Ameri- 
can cities. A complete enumeration of the cities employing 
unit courses is impracticable. Instances are as follows: New 
York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Minneapolis, St. 
Louis, San Francisco, Seattle, Rochester, N. Y., Albany, 
N. Y., Newton, Mass., Worcester, Mass., Scranton, Pa., 
Williamsport, Pa. Many of the industrial courses of the Young 
Men's Christian Association in scores of cities are unit courses, 
consisting of from five to twenty lessons. The reader who may 
be unfamiliar with the use of the unit-system of instruction or 
with the nature of the industrial subjects thereby made sub- 
jects of organized teaching, will be interested in the following 
enumeration of varied unit courses, indicated here in order to 
illustrate the wide range of the work. These courses were in 
operation before the outbreak of the World War. It will be 
understood that each title or subject barely enumerated below 
refers usually to a group of courses, — e. g., carpentry, includes 
five different unit courses, and each course in turn may con- 
tain from one to twenty lessons. 

Farming: Orcharding, general cropping, truck farming, grape growing, small fruit rais- 
ing, poultry keeping, dairying, swine raising, sheep raising, horse husbandry. 

Furniture making: Stock and machine work, cabinetmaking, finishing, courses for de- 
signers, machine men, stock keepers, foremen, prospective foremen, clerks, spindle carvers, 
pattern makers, filers and sharpeners, carvers, upholsterers. 

Cabinetmaking: Courses for foremen, journeymen and apprentices, including blue-print 
reading, drawing and layout, estimating, millwork, assembling, finishing. 

Painting: Courses for foremen, journeymen and apprentices, including estimating, paint 
composition, color harmony, fresco, staining, graining, finishing. 

Pattern making: Courses for foremen, journeymen, and apprentices. Drawing, sketching, 
foundry practice, tools, materials, glue and gluing, types of patterns, sweeps, etc. 

Carpentry: Stair building, inside finish, roof framing, drawing and mathematics, house 
framing. 

Wood m.ill work: Courses for foremen, journeymen, and apprentices. Window-frame, 
sash, door frames, wainscot making, etc. 

Plumbing: Courses for foremen, journeymen, and apprentices. Drainage, ventilation, 
joint wiping, water systems, estimating, blue-prints, etc. 

Sheet-metal work: Drafting, shopwork, drawing and mathematics. 

Steam engirieering: License work, arithmetic, boiler-room chemistry, steam plant manage- 
ment, gasoline engines. 

Steam fitting: Courses for foremen, journeymen, and apprentices, high-pressure work, 
traps, conden.sers, pumps, regulators, valves, pipes, low-pre.ssure work. 

Machine drafting: simple, complex, assembling, gears, freehand sketching, etc. 

Machinist's trade: Shop practice, machine-shop mathematics. 

Blacksmithing: Courses for foremen, journeymen, apprentices. 

Practical electricity: House installation, branch exchange installation, central office in- 
stallation, central energy installation, intercommunicating systems, electric lighting; sig- 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 269 

nal men and electricians — including armature winders, repair men, switchboard con- 
struction men, etc.; linemen and power-plant men, etc. 

Stone and granite cutting: Courses for firemen, journeymen, and apprentices. Monu' 
ment design, lettering, geometry applied to stone cutting, drawing, molding, etc. 

Terra-cotta work: Architectural drafting, model making. 

Concrete construction: Courses for builders, draftsmen, inspectors, field men, clerks, in- 
cluding materials, principles, steel reinforcement, specifications, designing, tests, cost data, 
etc. I 

Estimating: For general building construction-estimators, contractor's clerks, etc. 

Mining: Courses for mine firemen, mine steam engineers and mine workers. Boilers, 
steam engines, pumps and air condensers. Practical electricity and electrical machines. 
Mine gases, mine ventilation. Timbering, haulage, pumping. Mine calculations. Re- 
ports and accounts. 

Show-card writing: Courses for journeymen and apprentices, in handling and care of 
tools, mixing and blending colors, preparation of surfaces, use of "lettering pencil," prac- 
tical lettering, etc. 

Proof reading and copy editing: Theory, practical work. 

Printing: Courses for foremen, journeymen, and apprentices in make ready, register, 
ink, papers, cost systems, composition, cutting stock, design, punctuation, spelling. 

Player-piano-action mechanics: Courses for repair men and workmen. Player-action 
construction, installation. 

Cotton manufacturing: Carding and spinning, warp preparation and weaving, designing. 

Boot and shoe manufacturing: Pattern cutting and clicking, fitting and machining, sole- 
leather cutting, lasting and attaching, finishing, last making and pattern cutting, clicking 
and closing, machine operating, design, management, etc. 

Nursing: Courses for trained attendants. 

Cooking: Courses for housekeepers. General, and for nurses. 

Domestic economy: For housekeepers, for mothers in feeding and care of infanta and 
young children. 

Millinery: Courses for makers. 

Sewing for domestic use: Underwear, waists, skirts, neckwear, etc. For mothers — baby 
clothes, small children, etc. 

Dressmaking: For dressmakers. Tailoring, waist draping, waist making, costume de- 
sign, drafting and pattern making. 

Power-machine operating: Felling, hemming, gathering, tucking, two-needle tucking, 
button-hole machine operating, embroidery machine, hemstitch-machine, two and three 
and five needle machine operating. 

Waitress work: Care of dining room, washing and ironing table linen, setting of table and 
serving, care of pantry, carving, personal appearance. 

Janitor work: Cleaning, repairs, fire escapes, heating systems, gas, electric bells and ele- 
vators, tools, telephones, sanitation, water supply, air shafts, roofs, care of mail, telegrams, 
relationships, renting, etc. Laundry chemistry: Courses for foremen and workers. Water, 
alkalies, solvents, bleaches, drying, starch, dyes, textiles, etc. (33) 

Schools for miners. An important group of industrial 
workers not to be overlooked are the miners. Vital to the com- 
munity and to himself is it to safeguard and increase the miner's 
productiveness, his health, his earnings, his social well-being. 
The Royal Canadian Commission on Industrial and Technical 
Education devoted considerable attention to this matter. Pro- 
fessor Harry H. Stoek has arranged in useful form the facts and 
principles underlying industrial mining education, and also 
has compiled useful data regarding actual practice in this phase 
of education both in America and in many foreign countries. (38) 
This difficult but important field of industrial education de- 
mands renewed effort upon the part of all concerned. The 



270 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

studies of the Bureau of Ijabor Statistics afford an introduc- 
tion to the processes and occupations in mining. 

Vocational Instruction by Correspondence 

Strength and weaknesses. The efficiency and economy of 
the modern mail service has made possible a remarkable develop- 
ment in correspondence schools. Pupils of such schools may 
reside far from the institutions, and instruction is carried on by 
correspondence. In a few instances institutions provide a 
"correspondence instructor," — a travelling teacher who meets 
periodically groups of pupils in a community in order to supple- 
ment the explanations given by correspondence. Usually all 
instruction is given through the mails by means of printed out- 
lines, specially prepared text-books, directions, suggestions, 
etc., and pupils are required to submit reports and answers in 
writing. The precision and fullness required in the responses 
are advantages inherent in the correspondence method. Thou- 
sands of individuals have greatly profited by correspondence 
instruction and industry consequently has been helped by 
improved efficiency. Exceptional workmen who can not attend 
regular sessions of a college or university are enabled to study 
under expert direction. Courses are taken either for general 
self improvement, or for special purposes related to certain 
trades. The courses are of extraordinary variety and range. 

The disadvantages of the method are numerous. The student 
must work alone without the stimulus of personal help. Ex- 
planations demanded must be made by the laborious method of 
correspondence. Where college instructors are subsidized by 
extra fees to correct papers, etc., the work adds extra burdens 
interfering with regular instruction and likely to be performed 
perfunctorily. Some collegians are prone to look upon the 
correspondence instruction as superficial. Laboratory guidance 
and equipment are lacking. The informality, accessibility, and 
popularity of the courses have made it possible for scores of 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 271 

semi-fraudulent institutions run for gain to flourish under the 
name of correspondence schools. One needs only to read the 
extravagant claims set forth by expensive advertisements to 
understand both the unworthy character and also the possible 
monetary gains of certain private, correspondence-school enter- 
prises. 

Extent. Systematic instruction by correspondence prob- 
ably grew out of the university extension movement beginning 
in England in 1868. President William B. Harper of Chicago 
University during and after 1892 did much to stimulate corre- 
spondence instruction in America. To-day many American 
universities carry on the work — notably Chicago, Wisconsin, 
Nebraska, and California. The enrollments, in correspondence 
courses of these universities are: Chicago 5,000 (1916); Wiscon- 
sin 10,000 (1916) : California 3,399 with 42 lecture centers (1915). 
It is said that one private correspondence school has had an 
enrollment of a million and a half pupils during twenty-five 
years, although reliable statistics from private concerns are 
difficult to obtain. Correspondence schools that advertise 
widely often make extravagant promises. The educational 
and industrial surveys of late conducted in American cities dis- 
closed numbers of workmen who send money away for corre- 
spondence instruction. This is a matter of significance for two 
reasons: First, workers who choose to follow correspondence 
courses are likely to represent a select, ambitious class who often 
are worthy of help in public, trade-extension courses to be offered 
locally; secondly, the aggregate sums of money sent out from 
a community for fees, etc., often far exceeds the sum needed to 
support adequate classes at home with laboratory equipment 
and personal instruction. 

Summary 

Before we discuss still further the problems of education for 
mechanical industries and trades, we may pause to enumerate 



272 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

by way of summary the five groups of problems which we have 
presented so far. 

1. The necessity of standardization of terminology in this 

field is pressing. Vocational industrial schools, and 
courses and industrial arts schools or courses are dis- 
tinct in aim, although overlapping in content and method. 

2. If we combine into one great classification the workers in 

manufacturing and mechanical industries, in extraction 
of minerals, in domestic and personal service, and in public 
service — these combined groups contain most of the 
workers to be affected directly by trade and industrial 
training, and their number comprised even before the war 
one half of all gainful workers in the United States. This 
great number is exclusive of the 22,000,000 home workers 
who are not classified by the census as "gainful work- 
ers." The field of appropriate vocational education for 
this great host is exceedingly broad. 

3. The student should understand the functions and aims of 

the different kinds of classes and schools operating in this 
field, such as: Prevocational school, day industrial school, 
part-time school, unit course, night school, continuation school, 
apprentice school or class, and general industrial school. 
The organization and the work of these types of school 
are fluid and changing in these years of rapid development, 
and the need of adjustment to individual and to com- 
munity should always prevent them from becoming static. 

4. The evening schools, both academic, and mechanical or 

industrial, in character, present peculiar problems owing 
to the adult age of the students, their frequently specific 
demands for instruction to supplement their occupational 
efficiency, and because of the limitation of hours and 
strength. The unit-course — the short, intensive treatment 
of a topic complete in itself, is of singular value in evening 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 273 

work. Some of the features of the "project" method of 
teaching can in some instances contribute to better instruc- 
tion in unit courses in trade subjects. 
5. Instruction in correspondence for increase of knowledge and 
skill has helped many a handicapped toiler. Probably 
millions of dollars are sent away from home by workers to 
correspondence schools — money which could have bought 
locally more practical instruction. Instruction by corre- 
spondence has points both of strength and of weakness 
when administered with best intentions toward the learner. 

The Smith-Hughes Act has given more impetus to trade 
and industrial education of sub-collegiate grade than any 
other one piece of legislation. In the continuation of this 
subject in the next chapter we shall refer to the provisions 
of this law as affecting education in mechanical industries 
and trades. 

Problems 

1. Give reasons why lines of demarcation should be drawn 

between vocational industrial education, and industrial 
arts education. Examples of each kind in your commun- 
ity? 

2. Distinguish between trade education and the more general 

meaning of industrial education. 

3. From different standpoints show that the processes of 

learning and of doing occur together. Discuss, from 
(a) pedagogical, (b) ethical, (c) philosophical points of 
view. 

4. Explain what is meant by a project in industrial teaching? 

5. Contrast the proportions of shop or practical work in the 

Worcester schedule with the original requirements of 
the Smith-Hughes Act. 

6. Make a systematic study of the uses of each hour out of 

twenty-four hours during one week for each member of 



274 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

a high school group. Devise a carefully drawn blank for 
this purpose and obtain cooperation of pupils. 

7. If possible, make a similar study of a group of industrial 

workers. 

8. Classify the wholesome uses of spare time open to different 

age-groups, and the sexes, in your community. Com- 
pare commercial, philanthropic, and public provisions 
for recreation. 

9. In local plants ascertain by first-hand study probable pro- 

portions of time needed in continuation schools for tech- 
nical, general, and practical training respectively, for 
given occupations and for workers of different ages and 
abilities. 

10. Contrast the effects of the German system where the parent 

is likely to decide the occupation of the boy at about ten 
years of age, with our own elastic and opportunity-afford- 
ing schools. See Beckwith, Roman, Cooley, Judd. 

11. Ascertain how much money goes annually from your com- 

munity, or even from the employees of one large plant, 
for correspondence instruction. 

12. Ascertain the actual attendance in the different kinds of 

vocational industrial schools of your community or city. 

13. Where unskilled or semi-skilled service is demanded in 

manufacturing plants, to what extent shall specialized 
instruction be given by public schools? E. g., in garment, 
tobacco, chewing gum, tin-can, cotton, packing, canning 
industries, etc. 

14. To what extent and how can training for foremanship be 

organized? Consider with reference to particular indus- 
tries. 

15. To what extent shall specific industrial training be given to 

girls who will spend from one to seven years in industry, 
after which they will take up home-making? 

16. Describe any mechanical occupations intermediate between 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 275 

those of the graduate professional engineer, and those 
of a trade nature with practical training predominant. 

17. Procure from the reports on evening schools of New York 

City a descriptioti of the unit-courses now being given 
in the night schools of that city. Ascertain also what 
courses of a similar type are being offered by the public 
schools of your own community. Investigate the ques- 
tion of the adjustment of such unit-courses to meet the 
actual needs of your own community. Does the New 
York list of unit-courses afford you any valuable sug- 
gestions? Obtain also a similar list or description of 
courses from Milwaukee,Wisconsin. 

18. With the consent of the management, procure definite 

information from the workers in a large manufacturing 
plant with regard to their present or past enrollment in 
correspondence schools, the amounts paid, and the bene- 
fits actually received. Ascertain from employees and 
from unions through personal visitation what courses or 
subjects are desired for public evening schools in your 
community. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Ayres, L. P. Constant and Variable Occupations and Their Bearings 

on Problems of Vocational Education. Russell Sage Foundation 
Bulletin, p. 136. 

2. Beckwith. German Industrial Education and Its Lessons for the 

United States. U. S. Bureau of Education, No. 19, 1913, 154 p. 

3. Bibliography of Industrial, Vocational, and Trade Education. U. S. 

Bureau of Education Bulletin 22, 1913. 

4. Chicago, 111. A Report on Vocational Training in Chicago and Other 

Cities. By a Committee of the City Club of Chicago. 1912, 315 p. 

5. Child Labor. List of References. U. S. Department of Labor, Chil- 

dren's Bureau, Publication 18, 1916, 161 p. Probably the best and 
most extensive annotated bibliography, showing recent studies and 
legislation concerning child labor. 

6. Cincinnati, Ohio. The Cooperative System of Education. An account 

of cooperative education as developed in the College of Engineering 



276 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of the University of Cincinnati. Clyde W. Park. U. S. Education 
Bulletin 37, 1916, 4S p., ill., with bibliography. 

7. Cleveland, Ohio. Wage Earning and Education. Cleveland Survey. 

R. R. Lutz. Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio, 1916, 208 p. 
One of 25 volumes of the Survey. 

8. Cole, P. E. Industrial Education in the Elementary School. N. Y., 

1914, 60 p. A brief study of ancient views of industrial education, 
modern views and of present problems, with suggestions for curric- 
ulum and method. 

9. Cooley, Edwin G. Vocational Education in Europe. Report to the 

Commercial Club of Chicago, 347 p. 

10. Farrington, F. E. 

(a) The Public Primary School System of France. N. Y., 1906, 
303 p. 

(b) French Secondary Schools. N. Y., 1910, 450 p., and bibliography. 

11. Federal Board for Vocational Education. 

(a) Statement of policies, interpretations, etc., and the text of the 
Smith-Hughes Act. Bulletin 1, 1917, 70 p. Washington, D. C. 

(6) Buildings and Equipment for Schools and Classes in Trade and 
Industrial Subjects. Bulletin 20, 1918, 77 p. 111. 

(c) Trade and Industrial Education, Bulletin 17, 1918, 125 p. 

12. Hall, G. Stanley. Industrial Education. In Educational Problems. 

Vol. II, pp. 540-710. N. Y., 1911. 

13. Hicks, Warren E. A Description of the Continuation Schools of Wis- 

consin. Proc. Ninth Annual Meeting, National Soc. for Promotion 
of Industrial Education. 1916, pp. 203-219. 

14. Hill, David S. Industry and Education. Commission Council, New 

Orleans, 1916, 409 p. 111. A study of manufacturing establishments 
and mechanical occupations of boys and men with reference to educa- 
tion, and a plan for the Delgado School. 

15. Industrial Education. Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the U. S. Com- 

missioner of Labor. Washington, 1910, 822 p. A compendium 
of industrial education statistics, etc., of that date. 

16. Jones, A. J. Evening Schools — -In Germany, England, France, United 

States — the last in some detail. Monroe's Cycl. of Education, vol. 
II, pp. 521-527. 

17. Kandel, I. L. Educational Tendencies in England. In School and 

Society. June, 1917. 

18. Kelly, F. J. The General or Composite Industrial School in the City 

of Less than twenty-five Thousand Population. School and Society. 
Dec. 21, 1918. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 277 

19. Lapp, J. A. and Mote, C. H. Learning to Earn. Indianapolis, 421 p., 

1916. 

20. Leake, Albert H. Industrial Education, Its Problems, Methods and 

Dangers. N. Y., 1913, 205 p. 

21. Leavitt, Frank M. Examples of Industrial Education. 1912, N. Y., 

330 p. 

22. Marshall, Florence E. Trade Extension and Part-time Courses for 

Girls in New York City. Proc. Ninth Annual Meeting. National 
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, 1916, pp. 220- 
225. 

23. Massachusetts Board of Education. 

(a) Information Relating to the Establishment and Administration 

of State Aided Vocational Schools. Bulletin 22, 1916, 62 p. 
(6) Project Study and Industrial Schools. Bulletin 76, 1916. 

24. Massachusetts Industrial Education Commission. Public Document 

No. 76. Boston, 1907, 682 p. 

25. Minneapolis, Minn. Vocational Survey. U. S. Bureau of Labor 

Statistics. Bulletin 199, 1916. 

26. National Association of Corporation Schools. Proc. Fifth Annual 

Convention, Buffalo, 1917, 893 p. 

27. National Society for Promotion of Industrial Education, 1917, Bulle- 

tin 23, 73 p. Evening Vocational Courses for Girls and Women. 

28. Population: Occupation Statistics. U. S. Census. Washington, 1910, 

vol. IV, 615 p. 

29. Richmond, Va. Vocational Education Survey. Made with coopera- 

tion of United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States 
Bureau of Education, Russell Sage Foundation, National Society 
for Promotion of Industrial Education, School Board of Richmond, 
State Department of Education, citizens and schoolmen. U. S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 162, 1916, 333 p. 

30. Roman, Frederick W. The Industrial and Commercial Schools of the 

United States and Germany. A comparative study. N. Y. 1915, 
382 p. 

31. Royal Commission on Industrial Training and Technical Education. 

Report of the Commissioners. Four volumes. Ottawa, Canada, 
1913. 

32. Service Instruction of American Corporations. Leonhard F. Fuld. 

U. S. Education Bulletin 34, 1916, 73 p. 111. 

33. Short-unit Courses for Wage-earners, and Factory School Experiment. 

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 159, Washington, 1915, 
93 p. 



278 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

34. Small, R. O. Is It Possible to Give Trade Preparatory Work in the 

Part-time School? A discussion with definite recommendations by 
the Deputy Commissioner for Vocational Education of Massachu- 
setts. Proc. Tenth Annual Meeting National Society for the 
Promotion of Industrial Education. 1917, pp, 109-117. 

35. Snedden, David. Continuation Schools. Monroe's Cycl. of Educa- 

tion. Vol. II, pp. 194-195. 

36. State Aided Vocational Education in Massachusetts. Resume of 10 

years progress. Statistics regarding state-aided vocational schools. 
1915-1916. Bulletin 6. The Massachusetts Board of Education, 
Boston, 1917, 81 p. 

37. Springfield, 111. Industrial Education. A study by the Russell Sage 

Foundation, 1916, 173 p. 

38. Stoek, Harry H. Illinois Miners' and Mechanics' Institutes. Uni- 

versity of IlUnois Bulletin 19, 1914, 136 p. 111. A study of the 
education of mine employees, and of industrial mining education in 
America and in foreign countries. 

39. Taylor, Joseph S. A Handbook of Vocational Education. N. Y., 1914, 

221 p. 111. 

40. Vocational Secondary Education. Report of Committee of National 

Education Association. U. S. Education Bulletin 21, 1916. 

41. (a) Vocational Rehabilitation of Disabled Soldiers and Sailors. A 

preliminary study by the Federal Board for Vocational Educa- 
tion concerning rehabihtation and placement. Principles, 
policies, foreign legislation and experience. Bibliography. Sen- 
ate document 166, 65th Congress. 1918, 112 p. 

(6) Evolution of National Systems of Vocational Reeducation for 
Disabled Soldiers and Sailors. The Federal Board for Vocational 
Education. Bulletin 15, 1918, 319 p. 111. 

(c) Vocational Summary. Published monthly by the Federal Board 
for Vocational Education. 1918. See November, 1918, for 
statistics of vocational schools and of teacher-training centers 
for the year ending June 30, 1918. 



CHAPTER IX 

EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES AND 

TRADES— Continued 

The Smith-Hughes Act; Apphcations to Industrial and Trade Education: 
Significance; provisions and policies; entrance requirements for all-day 
industrial schools; distinguishing between all-day and part-time schools; 
'meanings of "nine months," "hours," "productive basis;" work other 
than shop work; age-limits in evening industrial schools; time basis for 
half-time work; kinds of work in part-time courses; subjects in evening 
schools; small cities conditionally exempt. 

Other Aspects of Industrial and Trade Education: The rehabilitation of 
disabled soldiers, and of workers from industry; education of women; dis- 
position of products; cost-records; production versus exercise; accidents 
and injuries, a three-fold problem — first aid, prevention, legal aspects. 

Questions about Teachers and Methods: A weak point; types of in- 
structors; selection and training; methods of teaching; the phase method; 
the project in trade and industrial education; project-routing; Allen's con- 
tribution; an analysis; detailed lesson; centers for teacher-training; par- 
ticipation of universities. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

The Smith-Hughes Act; Applications to Industrial and 
Trade Education 

Significance. The perspective disclosed in preceding pages 
showed the historical significance of the Smith Hughes Act. 
It- is probably the most potent action ever taken by public 
authority in order to promote education in the trades and 
industries in which so large a proportion of our wage-earners 
engage. Table X on page 185 exhibits the sums of money 
appropriated by the Federal Government to the States for 
cooperation in this work — the first sum being $500,000 in 1917- 

279 



280 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

18, and finally the sum of $3,000,000 to be appropriated in 1925- 
26 and annually thereafter. The moneys thus appropriated 
are to be duplicated at least once in each instance by the States, 
so that actually large sums are in prospect for the promotion of 
education in trade, industrial and home economics subjects. 
(E. g., Smith-Hughes Act, Sections: 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 14.) 

Provisions and policies. The mandatory provisions of the 
Act, and also the pul^lished policies of the Federal Board in the 
matter of discretionary interpretations and applications are of 
interest to students and schoolmen, and all citizens. The Fed- 
eral Board for Vocational Education has also published answers 
to special questions relating to industrial education, the answers 
constituting at least tentative statements of policies of the 
Board. Here follows the substance of some of these inter- 
pretations. (13) 

(a) Entrance requirements for all-day industrial schools. Sec- 
tion 1 1 of the Act provides : 

. . . That such education shall be of less than college grade and 
shall be designed to meet the needs of person over 14 years of age who 
are preparing for a trade or industrial pursuit or who have entered upon 
the work of a trade or industrial pursuit. (Sec. 11.) 

While a minimum age of fourteen is the age requirement in 
the Smith-Hughes Act, the Federal Board recommends that care 
be taken to secure pupils who are physically and mentally able 
to do the work required. While neither an absolute nor a uni- 
form standard as to educational qualifications can be fixed, 
experience shows that pupils failing to make normal progress 
in the regular schools rarely do satisfactoiy vocational work. 
Ability to do the work of the all-day industrial school should be 
the determining test even after admission. A probationary 
period of attendance will enable the school to determine the 
boy's or girl's real ability. Communities maintaining all-day 
vocational schools should offer full opportunities to all capable 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 281 

boys and girls, and should see to it that such schools do not be- 
come the resort of the undesirable, the feeble-minded, or the 
physically weak. 

(b) Distinguishing between all-day and part-time schools. 
Section 11 also provides: 

That such schools or classes giving instruction to persons who have 
not entered upon employment shall require' that at least half of the 
time of such instruction be given to practical work on a useful or pro- 
ductive basis, such instruction to extend over not less than nine months 
per year and not less than thirty hours per week. (Sec. 11.) 

. . . That at least one-third of the sum appropriated to any State 
for the salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, and industrial 
subjects shall, if expended, be applied to part-time schools or classes 
for workers over 14 years of age who have entered upon employment. 
(Sec. 11.) 

Where pupils work alternately in a class or school and in a 
privately owned shop, the determining factor is whether the 
pupils, when in such shop, are entirely under the supervision 
and control of the school. If they are, it is an all-day school. 
If not, it is a part-time school. This is true regardless of the fact 
that the pupils are, or are not, paid. The final test is whether 
or not the shop work is carried on independently or as an inte- 
gral part of the school. 

(c) Meanings of "nine months," "hours," "productive basis." 
These terms occur in Section 11 of the Act. The Federal Board's 
interpretation requires a day industrial school to be in session 
during nine months of four weeks each, regardless of the calen- 
dar months, and including only such holidays as are observed 
by the regular public schools. By ''hour" is meant a period of 
sixty minutes, the ''clock hour" being intended rather than that 
shorter recitation or study period sometimes called by schools 
an "hour." "Useful or productive basis" is interpreted to 
mean work similar to that carried on in the particular trade or 
industry taught. Such work is on a useful or productive basis 



282 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

when it results in a product of economic value comparable with 
that of a similar product made by a standard shop or factory. 

(d) Work other than shop work. In an all-day industrial 
school arises the question of what work other than shop work 
may be included in the "industrial subjects," for which teachers 
may be paid in part from moneys under the Smith-Hughes Act. 
The Federal Board answers that the State Board must be satis- 
fied that such work is inherent in the vocation taught in the 
school and is a subject which enlarges the trade knowledge of 
the worker. For example, in a machine-shop school which gives 
at least three hours a day to shop work, a part of the remaining 
time might be given to such topics as machine-shop mathe- 
matics, drawing as related to the machine-shop trades, science 
applied to the machine shop, and the hygiene of the trade. In 
a school which teaches printing time devoted to related studies 
might be given to such subjects as estimating costs, English 
for printers, art in printing — such as the layout of a paper, 
proper margins and title pages, science as related to printing, 
and hygiene of the trade. Before such work in related subjects 
can be paid for from Federal funds, the State Board must be 
satisfied that the teacher has had satisfactory contact with the 
vocation to which the related work is supplementary. 

(e) Age limits in evening industrial schools. Section 11, re- 
quires 

. . . That evening industrial schools shall fix the age of 16 years 
as a minimum entrance requirement. . . . (Sec. 11.) 

In this provision Congress has specifically prescribed 16 years 
as the requirement, and therefore a State may not prescribe a 
higher age (e. g., 18 or 20) as the minimum requirement. The 
Federal Board interprets the requirement as mandatory and 
consequently if Federal funds are to be used to aid States in con- 
ducting education in schools of this character, such schools must 
be open to persons of 16 years and over. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 283 

(f) Time basis for half-time work. The effect of the provision 
in Section 11 relating to at least half of the time of instruction 
to persons who have not entered upon employment to be given 
to practical work, etc., was thus construed by the Federal Board. 
The provision is twofold in effect : 

(1) It required that at least one-half the time given to in- 
struction shall be devoted to practical work, irrespective of the 
number of hours per week required of students; (2) it established 
a miniinum period of instruction. These requirements are in no 
way connected, but are, on the contrary, separate and distinct, 
and each must be given full force and effect. Consequently in 
cases where it is proposed to conduct schools for a longer period 
than the minimum prescribed by the Act, the half-time for 
practical work must be based on the number of hours during 
which the school operates. 

(g) Kinds of work in part-time courses. The Federal Board 
has not undertaken to define generally the many varieties and 
types of part-time schools and classes which may be entitled to 
federal aid under the Act. Section 11 contains the provision: 

. . . That at least one-third of the sum appropriated to any State 
for the salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, and industrial 
subjects shall, if expended, be applied to part-time schools or classes 
for workers over fourteen years of age who have entered upon employ" 
ment, and such subjects in a part-time school or class may mean any 
subject given to enlarge the civic or vocational intelligence of such 
workers over fourteen and less than eighteen years of age; that such 
part-time schools or classes shall provide for not less than one hundred 
and forty-four hours of classroom instruction per year. (Ibid.) 

The interpretation of the Federal Board, however, held that 
Federal moneys might be used to pay the salaries of teachers em- 
ployed in those part-time schools or classes where wage-working 
boys or girls receive any or all of the following benefits : 

(a) Increased skill or knowledge in the occupation which the wage- 
worker is following. 



284 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

(b) Skill or knowledge leading to promotion in the industry or calling 
wherein the wageworker is engaged. 

(c) Improvement in the knowledge of regular subjects which the 
wageworker did not complete in school. 

(d) Increased civic or vocational intelligence. 

(e) Skill and knowledge in home economics for girls employed as 
wageworkers. 

In general any part-time school must be in session during a part of 
the working time (day, week, month, or year) of its pupils; while an 
evening school or class must be in session outside the regular working 
hours of its pupils. 

. . . The number of aims or benefits which the school or class 
is to undertake should be governed by the number of hours available 
for instruction; and pupils should be so grouped and taught as to deal 
definitely with one aim at a time. Preferably, the aims should be few 
to insure effective results; and care should be taken not to attempt 
inconsistent or conflicting aims with the same pupils. For example, 
a part-time class, having but four hours per week for instruction, should 
not attempt for any given group more than two of the above aims as a 
maximum. (Ibid.) 

(h) Subjects in evening schools. Section II provides: 

. . . That evening industrial schools . . . shall confine instruction 
to that which is supplemental to the daily employment. 

The Federal Board interpreted this to mean that evening 
instruction "can be given only in such subjects as will increase 
skill or knowledge in the occupation in which the worker is 
engaged as his daily employment, or such as will lead to promo- 
tion or advancement in that work. The time available in an 
evening school is so short that it is impossible to teach a skilled 
trade to anyone unless he is engaged in daily work affording him 
opportunity to apply the skill or knowledge gained in the even- 
ing school, or unless the daily employment gives an experience 
which will enable the worker, with the knowledge or skill ac- 
quired in an evening school, to secure promotion in that occupa- 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 285 

tion. The work can be most effectively given when workers 
in similar or allied occupations are grouped together." 

(i) Small cities conditionally exempt. Section 11 also con- 
tains this important provision regarding education for trade, 
home economics, and industrial subjects: 

That for cities and towns of less than twenty-five thousand popula- 
tion, according to the last preceding United States census, the State 
board, with the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Educa- 
tion, may modify the conditions as to the length of course and hours 
of instruction per week for schools and classes giving instruction to 
those who have not entered upon employment, in order to meet the 
particular needs of such cities and towns. 

Other Aspects op Industrial and Trade Education 

The rehabilitation of disabled soldiers, and of workers from 
mdustry. In another place we have referred to the matter 
of industrial and trade education utilized in behalf of two gen- 
eral groups : Disabled soldiers, and workers maimed by accident 
in industrial occupation. The condition of the men who, having 
served the country and humanity upon the battlefield, return 
disabled — ^blind, or mutilated, or prostrated, suffering from 
shock, and sick — presents a pathetic appeal that stirs any 
patriotic citizen. However, to rehabilitate these men has not 
been merely a matter of humanitarianism. It has been an 
economic necessity in order to lessen dependence, invalidism, 
pauperism. It should open up new fields of employment to 
many men who have lacked occupational opportunity; it should 
increase self-respect and personal joy of living. We have just 
awakened also to the necessity of rehabilitating the thousands 
who are injured in industrial plants or upon railroads. Practi- 
cal and social aspects of this great work have compelling fasci- 
nation but can not be included in the present chapter. 

Education of women. The problems of industrial and trade 
education for girls and women are in many respects the problems 



286 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

we have already presented. Special issues appear in the field 
of women's occupations and in the institutions erected to meet 
the individual and social needs of the girl or woman employed. 
A brief consideration of some of these special problems will 
comprise the content of another chapter. 

Disposition of products. When a product of an industrial 
school is used for the benefit of the public there should be a 
diminution of the net cost of the school to the taxpayer. Prod- 
ucts that could be made economically under skilled trades 
instructors for the public school system and with educational 
advantage to the boys are such as these : 

Printing of all kinds in large quantities. 

Furniture, for teachers, officials, pupils 

Supplies for schools. 

Additions, repairs, furniture, etc., for schools. 

Repairs to electric bell and school telephone systems. 

What to do with the products of the labor of students in 
a trade or industrial school is a problem for consideration. 
Usually the small amount of products of the trade school 
does not enter largely into the business of a city. Several 
methods of disposing of articles made have been in vogue. 
For example: 

(1) Consignment of product to junk-heap; obviously waste- 
ful. 

(2) Making things for oneself; articles are limited in charac- 
ter, practice is expensive to school ; may develop a selfish rather 
than altruistic school spirit. 

(3) Sale in open market, in school sales-room. 

(4) Sale on special orders. 

(5) Exchange of service with factories where articles made by 
boys for factory are exchanged for new school equipment, such 
as lathes, etc. 

(6) Repair work, as plumbing, electrical work, etc., done in 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 287 

public schools by students under the supervision of a competent 
man. 

(7) Manufacture of articles for use of public schools, such as 
desks, chairs, tables and printing for the public schools. 

In this matter it should not be lost sight of that to over- 
emphasize the value and amount of the product rather than the 
good of the boy or girl is fatal to the aim of true education. In 
some schools, under private auspices, children have been ac- 
tively exploited in the production of goods, under the guise of 
education. 

In considering the question of the disposition of products 
made from raw materials in a trades school it should be ever re- 
membered that the "boy is the most important product." 
Industrial efficiency in the school must not be obtained at the 
cost of the pupils' development. 

Cost-records. Modern industries utilize record-systems 
that indicate the actual costs in time expended, unproductive 
labor, materials, etc., for every finished product. It is clear 
that a school related to actual industrial and commercial con- 
ditions, must give place to the study of cost-record systems and 
to practice in the use of such devices. Students should know 
well both the uses and the abuses of the cost-record system in 
actual industry. 

Production versus exercise. Manual training often based 
upon the academic idea of ''general mental discipline," "trans- 
fer of skill gained by special practice," "development of the 
senses," etc., is still offered sometimes in the place of produc- 
tive, vocational courses. In order that an industrial course may 
be truly vocational, it is necessary for it to duplicate actual shop 
conditions. Nevertheless, the possible evils of the commercial 
shop must be avoided, and it is ever to be remembered that 
"the boy is the most important product of the shop." 

Lewis H. Carris has prepared a tabulation intended to ex- 



288 



INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



press in parallel columns, the differences between the com- 
mercial shop and the school shop conducted on a productive 
basis. It is as follows: 

Principal Differentiating Characteristics — 



OF the commercial shop in 

BUSINESS 

1. Money-making enterprise. 

2. Considers maximum of profit. 

3. Keeps man on special proc- 
ess to secure maximum output. 
Production. 

4. Has usually no primary in- 
terest in providing variety of ex- 
perience. 

5. Aims at production of goods. 

6. Marketable product is the 
primary aim. 

7. Interest in materials. 

8. Individualistic interests. 

9. Serves private capital. 

10. Immediate profit. 

11. Concerned with competi- 
tion. 



OF the school shop conducted 

ON A USEFUL OR PRODUCTIVE BASIS 

1. Educational enterprise. 

2. Considers maximum of edu- 
cational values. 

3. Keeps student on special 
process only until skill in spe- 
cial process is sufficient to war- 
rant advancement. 

4. Tries to give a complete 
round of experiences. 

5. Aims at production of skill. 

6. Marketable product is the 
secondary aim, but necessary to 
give adequate training. 

7. Interest in human beings. 

8. Society interests. 

9. Serves state. 

10. Future welfare. 

11. Not concerned with compe- 
tition. (22) 



Accidents and injuries, a threefold problem. The question 
of accidents in industrial schools has three aspects: (1) First 
aid to the injured; (2) preventive and protective measures; (3) 
liability and compensation. 

First aid. Even in a crowded curriculum, place should be 
found for competent instruction of teachers in such matters as 
emergency treatment of hemorrhages, simple and compound 
fractures, sprains and dislocations, poisonings; foreign bodies in 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 289 

skin, eye, ear, nose; burning clothing; fainting, shock, epilepsy, 
hysteria, etc. The need of immediate and competent medical 
help should be emphasized in emergency work. 

Prevention. Administrators, executives, teachers, and 
pupils should be acquainted so far as possible with modern 
preventive measures. Safety devices providing against acci- 
dent from wheels, belts, shafting, electricity, dust, etc., are of 
necessity in the efficient industrial plants of to-day. Standards 
of illumination and ventilation should be understood and ob- 
served. Of value also is instruction in swimming, diving, the 
transportation of the injured, management of fires, handling 
and storage of poisons, avoidance of street accidents from cars 
and automobiles. 

Legal aspects. Instances of accidents caused variously by 
personal negligence, unprotected machinery, or from wrong ac- 
tion or attitude of officials or boards, give rise to the question of 
liability and compensation. Decisions in such instances will 
depend upon the laws and statutes applicable in the various 
States, and especially upon the specific facts in a case. 

The following is a legal opinion concerning accidents in in- 
dustrial schools, published by the Massachusetts State Board 
of Education: 

(a) It would seem that in the event of an accident there would be no 
liability upon the Commonwealth or upon the State Board of Educa- 
tion, acting as an instrumentality of the Commonwealth within the 
scope of the duties imposed upon it by law, since the Commonwealth 
is not liable for torts. 

(6) There would seem to be no liability upon the city or town by 
which the school was established and in which it was maintained. 

(c) For accidents resulting from negligence there would probably 
be a personal liability upon the part of the person directly responsible, 
unless such accidents resulted directly from the negligent official action 
of a board or public officer, in which case it is doubtful if there could 
be a recovery. Where the action of the Board or public officer is 



290 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

proper and within the scope of the pubHc duty imposed upon them or 
him, and the agent to whom the order is directed is neghgent, there 
would be no Hability upon the board or officer who gave the order. 

In general, the question of liability for accidents of the character 
described must ultimately be a question of fact to which the general 
principles above outlined may be applied, and should probably be 
determined in each case upon the specific facts of that case. (11) 

Questions about Teachers and Methods 

A weak point. The advancement of the program for better 
industrial education has been in spite of the marked scarcity of 
teachers who combine personal qualifications, special skills, 
practical experience in industry, scholarship, and acquaintance 
with essentials of school management and methods of instruc- 
tion. Suitable personal qualifications, plus practical experience, 
and skill in occupation, necessarily have been given preference 
in the choice of vocational teachers. It was a wise provision of 
the Smith-Hughes Act which demanded provisions for training 
teachers to be made by the States as a first prerequisite for 
gaining Federal cooperation. 

A reading of the recent discussions of Messrs. Carris,(22) 
Myers, (12) and Snedden,(18) reveals a determined effort to 
think out means of efficient teaching in industrial education, but 
at the same time indicates the immature and unsatisfactory 
status of teacher-training provisions for industrial instructors. 

Types of instructors. The term teacher may include di- 
rectors, supervisors, principals, heads of departments, instruc- 
tors. All of the teachers in a vocational industrial school of 
course need not be strictly vocational instructors. A classifica- 
tion of such instructors comprises three groups : 

(a) Vocational instructors. Those, in shop, farm, or home, who teach 
shop work, technically related work, or both. 

(b) Technical instructors. Those who teach technically related sub- 
jects, as sciences, drawing, mathematics. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 291 

(c) Non-vocational instructors. Those who teach non- vocational 
subjects, as English. 

The following types of instructors may give instruction in 
schools or classes maintained in part by federal funds under the 
Smith-Hughes Act: (22) 

1. Teachers of shop subjects in the all-day, part-time, or evening 
school classes where instruction is limited to a particular trade. 

2. Teachers of shop subjects in general industrial schools and in 
part-time schools when the shop work is of a general or elementary 
character. 

3. The related subjects teachers in the all-day, part-time, or evening 
classes. 

4. Teachers of non-vocational subjects in part-time schools or classes. 

Selection and training. A conference of state executives 
during 1916 recommended certain findings concerning the se- 
lection and training of teachers for state aided industrial 
schools. The recommendations embody a development of 
recommendations originally prepared by C. A. Prosser and 
W. A. O'Leary for the National Society for the Promotion of 
Industrial Education. The recommendations of the conference 
comprise almost a compendium upon this debatable subject. 
Space permits here only a brief condensation of some of the 
important findings, which we embody in the following para- 
graphs (a, b, c, d). 

(a) Qualifications of Teachers. Industrial school teachers should be 
required to possess definite and clearly defined qualifications. Trade 
teachers should be masters of their craft; technical teachers should have 
trade experience and adequate technical knowledge; and non- vocational 
teachers should have special training in the subjects they are to teach 
and at least a layman's understanding of the trade and the industrial 
processes taught in the school. Every instructor should know how to 
teach and should possess satisfactory personal and educational quali- 
fications. 



292 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

(b) Certificatio7i of Teachers. New plans of certification are needed. 
Because of the difference between the quaUfications necessary for regu- 
lar school teachers and those required of teachers in industrial schools, 
existing plans for the certification of regular public school teachers 
cannot be satisfactorily used for industrial schools. No scheme of 
certification can be of permanent value that is not based upon accurate 
knowledge of the requirements for teachers and a state-wide uniform 
plan for estimating the qualifications of applicants. In most existing 
plans written examinations, together with credentials of one sort or 
another, are the basis upon which certificates are granted. Officials 
in charge of the certification of industrial school teachers may well 
recognize these means of testing applications, but a much more thor- 
oughgoing examination than that now given teachers in elementary 
and high schools is essential. The state should be the sole certificating 
authority. . . . The aim of state certification is to estabUsh minimum 
standards. Certification by the state does not create an obligation on 
the part of local authorities to hire or retain any particular holder of a 
certificate. 

(c) Training of teachers. The entrance requirements for admission 
to training classes should be carefully determined. The same care in 
choosing students should be exercised as the best trade schools give 
to the selection of their pupils. Only those persons should be admitted 
to training classes who give promise of the qualifications necessary for 
successful teaching service. Justice to these prospective teachers as 
well as the economic use of public money requires that they should not 
be permitted to give their time to special preparation at public ex- 
pense for service for which it is obvious that they are not fitted. No 
person should be accepted who does not possess at least the minimum 
of personal qualifications as to health, personality, etc., which the state 
authorities require for the certification of teachers. 

The training given teachers for industrial school service will generally 
be of two types : Short courses like evening or part-time classes where 
the instruction must necessarily be confined to the one problem of 
giving the pupils an introductory teaching equipment; and longer 
courses such as could be given in more extended part-time classes or 
in an all-day school where it is possible to give more thorough teach- 
ing equipment as well as supplementary preparation in such things 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 293 

as technical knowledge, additional practical experience, industrial, 
social, and civic contracts. 

Training should be given all teachers before they enter school serv- 
ice and also after they begin employment. 

The most promising plan for training shop instructors at the present 
time is the evening introductory training course for skilled trade work- 
ers having the personal and trade qualifications. After finishing an 
evening course these men and women should serve as assistant or 
pupil teachers in an industrial school. . . . 

The best scheme for securing teachers of related subjects will be 
one which will draw men and women of actual trade experience. Every 
effort should be made to attract skilled trade workers to evening or 
part-time classes giving preliminary training for teaching. When 
persons having no practical experience are employed as technical 
teachers, industrial and trade contacts must be given them as part 
of their training. These teachers should have in general the same after- 
training in the service as that recommended for trade teachers. 

Teachers of non- vocational subjects might be trained best in the state 
normal schools. This means that the normal school must organize 
separate departments and assume the responsibility of providing suit- 
able instructors who understand the peculiar teaching required in 
industrial schools. So far as it is possible for a school to do so the normal 
schools must furnish the outside contacts which will give their pupils 
a sympathetic understanding of the problems of industry and the 
worker. After entering the service, non- vocational teachers as well 
as trade and technical instructors should have probationary experience 
and further professional training. 

(d) Control of Training Courses. The control of all state-aided 
classes for the training of industrial school teachers should be conferred 
by legislative authority upon the board or committee in charge of 
industrial education. Non-state-aided classes should be controlled 
through the certification of teachers by the same body. (14) 

Methods of teaching. Instruction in industrial subjects 
does not yet embody a well-developed technic. Formalism, 
cut and dried "pedagogy," have little place in live industrial 
education, which must ever change. Some of the principles 



294 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

and facts stated elsewhere in this book refer in a general way to 
good instruction. Difficult is the task of guarding the content 
of instruction so that the three results may be secured for every 
young pupil; namely, (1) skill in a selected occupation; (2) 
knowledge related both to that occupation, and also to culture; 
(3) ideals of personal and civic welfare. The efficient processes 
to be followed in securing these three aims in their respective 
details, will comprise the basis of a technic of instruction for 
industrial schools. 

The phase method. By this method of organizing instruc- 
tion the progress of the pupil is based upon ability to meet the 
conditions of the next phase, rather than upon a grading meas- 
ured by time. For example, here follows three phases illustra- 
tive of such organization in Massachusetts : 

Phase I. — Trying-out phase (all shop period). 

(a) Doing the job without introducing complications of any kind. 

(6) Carrying out a series of single projects in which planning and 
related study are carried out in their logical order and in the shop. 

Phase II. — Period of close correlation emphasis on good shop work 
(shop and class room time evenly divided) . 

Carrying on more than one project and not necessarily carrying out 
each subject in logical order. 

Phase III. — Period of intensive shop and technical training (shop 
and class room time evenly divided, with correlation not closely made). 

Mastery of a series of organized subjects of instruction on the one 
hand, and the training and the ability to work under purely productive 
conditions in the shop on the other. (11) 

The project in trade and industrial education. In the con- 
sideration of agriculture we have already referred to (p. 220) 
possibilities in the use of the "project method." The unit 
course (p. 264) affords interesting possibilities for the develop- 
ment of projects in industrial education. The Massachusetts 
State Board suggests a combination of the phase and of the 
project methods, as follows: 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 295 

In the simplest sense in which the term can be used, a project is a 
job, or it is something involving the discharge of a responsibility on 
the part of a pupil. The project method of instruction in vocational 
education is a plan of instruction combining growth in manipulative 
skill on a shop, farm, or home job with growth in power to apply the re- 
lated technical knowledge (drawings and mathematics) of the job. 

The project method of instruction, as a method of instruction best 
calculated to train for power to use and apply information, is suggested 
for vocational schools, rather than instruction on independent subjects 
arranged in series and courses organized in logical progression, and 
chiefly valuable as a method of imparting information. 

The project method of instruction involves the following activities 
on the part of the pupil: — 

(a) Determining the conditions to be met in doing the work. 

(6) Planning how to meet these conditions in terms of materials, 
operations, and suitable equipment. 

(c) Preparation of this material in conventional form (operation 
sheet, drawing, etc.). 

(d) Performing such calculations as may be necessary (figuring cost, 
amount of stock, cutting speed, amount of feed, etc.). 

(e) Carrying out the job according to specifications. 

A combination of the project method of instruction with the phase 
scheme of grading is recommended as calculated to give the most 
efficient vocational education, (ibid.) 

Project routing. Management involving checking, inspect- 
ing, and routing of a pupil through a series of projects is desira- 
ble. The specific requirements must be carefully planned and 
accomplishments recorded systematically. It is a problem to 
manage this adequately, and at the same time not to kill initia- 
tive and spontaneity in the pupil. 

One simple form of project routing-card shows the fol- 
lowing: 

(a) The elements of the projects, (b) The operations called for in 
each particular project, (c) The inspection for each operation. A 



296 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

very definite progressive project control, combined with an inspection 
report and the perpetual inventory of the pupil's educational condi- 
tions at the close of the given project, is an essential part of the pro- 
ject method of instruction. 

The use of such a card is intended to cover the following points: (a) 
To place a definite responsibility on the instructor for the assignment 
of work. (6) To furnish an accurate record of the work actually carried 
on in connection with each job. (c) To place a definite responsibility 
upon the instructor for accepting such work as may be asked for. 
(ibid.) 

Allen's contribution. Endeavoring to avoid the unnecessary 
use of "abstract theory," in favor of practical methods, the 
contribution of Charles R. Allen marks a unique and forward 
step in the pedagogy of instruction in trade processes. A worker 
of long practical experience in training industrial teachers, 
Allen wrote his system as an immediate result of his supervision 
of training courses for one thousand ship-yard instructors, under 
the Emergency Fleet Corporation during the years of the War. 
The book deals with the three factors in efficient production — 
the instructor, the man and the job. Scientific students of 
education unacquainted with industrial life will find the book a 
source of information and suggestion. The book tells better 
how to produce trainers quickly than to produce all-around 
teachers. In education for increased production trainers of men 
in specific processes are, of course, a necessary part of modern 
industry. The methods set forth for instruction in efficiency 
production are schematized by Allen and are illustrated. For 
example, here follow two samples, one (A) of one of Allen's 
schemes of analysis, the other (B) showing in some detail one 
of his lesson plans. 

(A) An atialysis. In the following tabular arrangement 
Allen sets forth the four instructional operations in teaching a 
specific job, for example, heating and driving hot rivets. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 



297 



THE ANALYSIS 





Development 


Informational 




The suggestive 


The informational 


Step I. 


question. 


question. 


Preparation. 


Demonstration. 


Demonstration. 


Foundation. 


Illustration. 


Illustration. 




Experience. 


Experience. 


Step 2. 


Demonstration. 


Demonstration. 


Presentation. 


Illustration. 


Illustration. 


Putting over. 


Experiment. 


Lecture. 




On the job. 




Step 3. 


Discussion. 


On the job. 


Application. 


Recitation. 


Recitation. 


Checking up. 


Written Test. 


Written Test. 




Examination. 


Examination. 


Step 4. 


On the job. 


On the job. 


Inspection. 


Recitation. 


Recitation. 


Final Test. 


Examination. 


Examination. 



(B) Detailed lesson. Now comes an example of a detailed 
lesson used by Allen in such work as that done for the Shipping 
Board. The job is heating and driving hot rivets. 



Step I. Preparation 

First Idea. (A rivet.) 

1. Have you ever seen a rivet? 

2. Can you tell a rivet from a bolt? 

3. Did you ever see any riveting? 

4. Is a rivet alike at both ends? 

5. Is a rivet round or square? 

Second Idea. (A hot rivet.) 

1. Could you pick up a rivet that you found lying around the yard? 

2. If you saw a rivet on top of a hot stove would you try to pick it up? 



298 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

3. Why would you take a chance in picking up the first rivet but not 

on picking up the second? 

4. Could you tell a very hot rivet from a cold rivet without touching 

it? 

Third Idea. (A rivet heated enough.) 

1. Can a rivet be heated to different heats? 

2. Would it make any difference what heat a rivet has, provided it 

is hot? 

3. Hasn't the heater boy got to know somehow when the rivet is 

at the right heat? How does he know when a rivet is just hot 
enough? 

Step II. Pbesentation 

First Point. The rivet must be at a certain temperature to work right. 
(Memo. Head up cold and hot rivet.) 

1. Which rivet takes the most time to head up? 

2. Which rivet, hot or cold, makes the best head? 

3. If you were paid for the number of rivets driven, which would 

you prefer, cold or hot rivets? 

4. If rivets with well finished heads only were accepted, which would 

you prefer, hot or cold rivets? (Memo. Drive an over-heated 
rivet.) 

5. Does this rivet head up right? 

6. Would you rather be paid for driving over-heated, or properly 

heated rivets? 

Second Point. (The appearance of the rivet varies with the heat.) 

1. Can a rivet be too cold for the job, or too hot for the job? (Again 

head up an under-heated rivet and an over-heated rivet, 
directing the attention of the boys to the appearance of the 
rivets when they are taken from the fire.) 

2. Could you see any difference between the two rivets? 

3. Could you pick out an under-heated rivet? An over-heated rivet? 

4. How would you do it? 

Third Point. (The rivet must be just under a "scaling" [white] heat.) 
(Memo. Head up a properly heated rivet.) 
1. Has this rivet worked right? 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 299 

2. Could you tell a rivet that would work right from one that is 

under-heated or over-heated by looking at it? 

3. How would you pick out a properly heated rivet? 

Step III. Application 

(Memo. Place rivets in fire.) Have each boy pick out correctly 
heated rivets, meantime asking such questions as are suggested below, 
of the other three boys. 

Bill, Pick out a correctly heated rivet. 

Sam, Did he do it? 

Jack, How do you know he did it? 

Tom, You pick out a rivet. 

Jack, You watch him. 

Sam, Pick out another one. 

Bill, That wasn't right, was it? 

Jack, Pick out a burnt rivet. 

(Memo. Carry on work of this kind until satisfied each boy knows 
a properly heated rivet.) 

Step IV. Testing 

(Memo. Proceed to rivet and say:) 

Now I'm going to riveting and am going to use each of you boys in 
turn as a heater boy to pass me ten rivets. If all ten are at the right 
heat I'll 0. K. you to the foreman for a job. Go to it, Sam. You other 
three fellows don't mix in, give him a show. You'll get your turn. 
Watch me rivet. 

Use of Other Methods. — Other methods entirely unsuitedfor teaching 
a lesson of this type, and one of which would probably be selected by a 
poor teacher, but which a good teacher would never use for this sort 
of lesson, are illustrated in this paragraph. Had the informational 
line of approach been selected, the questions in Step I would have been 
so framed that the answers would require no thinking by the boys. . . . 

If the recitation method were used in Step III the instructor would 
be prepared with a set of "cross examination" questions, such as,-^ 
Must a rivet be heated at the right temperature? 

How can you tell an over-heated or under-heated rivet, etc. (in- 



300 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

formational approach), or, by the (developmental approach), "Why 
isn't an over-heated rivet just as good? Why isn't an under-heated 
rivet just as good?" etc. 

By the examination method a few questions selected at random would 
be given. Under either approach the instructor would, by giving ad- 
ditional information or suggestive comment, straighten out any points 
he found needing it. 

If the lecture method were used the instructor would proceed some- 
what as follows: "You boys have seen a rivet, you know that rivets 
may be heated and that the rivet heater has to know when a rivet is 
at the right heat. In doing this he goes by the color. If the rivet is 
red hot it is too cold, if it is too hot it scales, so the way to know a rivet 
at the right heat is to pick out one that is just under a good white heat, 
but not to let it get so hot that it scales. "(I) 

Centers for teacher-training. Sneddon complains that "al- 
ready a number of cities have made the absurd mistake of as- 
suming that instructors in technical knowledge are much more 
important men than trainers in industrial skill, and are paying 
the former much larger compensations." Whether for the prep- 
aration of instructors or trainers, questions arise about the 
best location of teaching centers for these purposes, and about 
the relative uses of existing institutions — normal schools, engi- 
neering colleges, technical high schools. The advantage of 
proximity of such centers to industrial areas seems clear; the 
relative values for the purpose of the three types of institutions, 
not so plain. 

The majority of normal schools are apart from large indus- 
trial centers, and are patronized chiefly by girls preparing to 
teach in elementary schools. The same writer observes: "It is 
doubtful whether more than a very small part of the general 
normal schools of America can advantageously develop train- 
ing departments for industrial school teachers. In the more 
naive stages of reflection on this subject, we are apt to infer that 
'a teacher is a teacher ' and that any institution devoted to the 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 301 

training of one type of teachers can readily adapt itself to the 
training of another type. More analytical study, however, will 
show that the training of different types of teaching must be 
differentiated, if anything, more widely than the forms of educa- 
tional service, considered in terms of objectives, for which these 
teachers are being trained." 

Participation, of universities. It is probable that any 
definition of necessary qualifications of the different types of 
teachers will undergo constant revision in the direction of 
higher requirements. The sudden growth of industrial educa- 
tion lower than college grade has made imperative the employ- 
ment of persons new to teaching, and the lack of adequately 
prepared industrial instructors has sometimes forced the accept- 
ance of compromise measures, both in lower schools and in 
university training courses. 

Colleges of engineering connected with state universities are 
also, most of them, remote from city life. Some of them provide 
industrial teacher-training courses in centrally located indus- 
trial centers, as in Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and Illinois. 
Snedden says: "The pedagogical influence of the engineering 
colleges on the standards and methods of industrial teacher- 
training will probably not be good for several years, or until 
some very definite prescriptions are established by state and 
national authorities. Typical engineering schools are institu- 
tions for technical instruction as distinguished from vocational 
training. Only lately and reluctantly have they come to ap- 
preciate the importance of practical experience obtained under 
educational supervision, as a necessary part of integral voca- 
tional education. The University of Cincinnati now provides 
definitely for the acquisition of such practical experience. Sev- 
eral other colleges do so in a half-hearted way through summer 
camps, compulsory service in mines, etc. "(18) 

In some cities there are found technical high schools, as in 
Oakland (California), Chicago, St. Louis, Cleveland, Boston, and 



302 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

New York. Some of these institutions possess space and equip- 
ment which could be adapted for additional vocational courses, 
day and evening. 

An opportunity exists to utilize more fully the departments 
and schools of state universities for mutual betterment. Most 
of these probably would find it possible to maintain a teacher- 
training division within a city. Schools of education, engineer- 
ing, agriculture, and commerce merit a share in the training of 
young men and women, both in the principles of vocational 
education and also in the adjustment and supervision of well 
regulated experience in shops and industries and in laboratories 
looking toward the acquisition of specific skills. The Univer- 
sity of Cincinnati, Columbia University, and the Universities 
of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin are examples of institutions 
which have begun such work. 

As a rule, the universities are better equipped with shops, 
laboratories, and farms, for this kind of activity than are normal 
schools, but to accomplish it, certain academic notions of prereq- 
uisites must be altered in ultra-conservative places where pro- 
fessors and petty executives are more interested in college en- 
trance units and the perpetuation of favorite courses, than in 
the adjustment of state institutions to meet the needs of larger 
proportions of our population. It will be a mistake also to 
continue to admit to university faculties men of inferior intel- 
lectual capacity and inadequate industrial training as "pro- 
fessors of industrial education," if such men are to become 
permanent leaders and expect attention in their effort to modify 
or to reorganize university life. Encouraging symptoms of 
vigorous, competent leadership are manifest in several state 
universities. 

Summary 

1. The Smith-Hughes Act until the year 1917 was the most far- 
reaching law ever passed in the United States affecting 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 303 

directly sub-collegiate education in the mechanical trades 
and industries. The measure stimulated all-day schools, 
part-time schools, and evening schools, and rapid construc- 
tive work was accomplished in the cities of two score States 
within a short time. The federal officials in extending co- 
operation have provided helpful and protective rulings and 
explanatory literature to authorities in the States. 

2, Numerous new problems and difficulties arise to challenge 

the best thought and the energetic efforts of advocates 
and administrators of industrial education. Examples 
of such questions are : The vocational rehabilitation of the 
disabled, those from war, and those from industry; the 
problems peculiar to the industrial education of women; 
questions about commercial production, disposition of 
productsl made during training; the medical, preventive, 
and legal aspects of the industrial accident. 

3. Especially difficult and new are questions about instruction- 

the selection, the training, and the methods of teachers. 
Distinctions need be made between trainers of men for spe- 
cific jobs and instructors of elementary or of technical sub- 
jects. Scrutiny and trial need be made of the methods of 
trade and industrial instruction now variously advocated, 
i. e., the phase, the project, the analysis of steps of produc- 
tion with demonstration and practice as by Allen. The 
choice of institutions and of their locations — whether they 
be normal schools, technical high schools, or universities is 
a matter which calls for local adjustment in order to meet 
the radically different demands of practical trade and 
industrial instruction. 

Production and distribution, making and selling are perhaps 
becoming more unified in industry and commerce. However, 
somewhat distinct from the occupations of the makers of things 
in mechanical trades and industries are the sellers and ex- 



304 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

changers of commodities. A great number of occupations in the 
commercial, as marked off from the industrial field, must be 
considered in establishing vocational education. Commercial 
education, therefore, will be the subject of the following 
chapter. 

Problems 

1. What is the most important "product" of any school? 

2. Consider from points of view of (a) employers, (b) labor 

unions, (c) the school, (d) the pupil, the relative 
merits of different ways of disposing of things made in an 
industrial school. (See p. 286.) 

3. Where trainers are needed rather than professionally devel- 

oped teachers, how can the matter of preserving ethical 
ideals under democracy be cared for in the schools? 

4. Distinguish between training for skill, and education of best 

modern type. Can animals be trained or educated? 

5. Show that increase of production in any plant necessitates 

both training and education in the ideal worker. 

6. Contrast the relative merits of systems of part-time school- 

ing: e. g., (a) where alternating teams work for a week 
in shop and then in school; (b) where young workers 
put in certain hours each day or week in shop and in 
school; (c) part-time classes run by corporations, and by 
the public schools. 

7. Why should employers pay wages for the time young em- 

ployees spend well in part-time courses? 

8. How may we safeguard the health of students in part-time 

and evening courses? 

9. Endeavor to formulate definite "projects" for teaching 

purposes, with regard to a part of some mechanical occu- 
pation or trade — as firing a boiler, making a door, in- 
stalling a telephone, driving a rivet, running a planer, or 
a drill press. 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 305 

10. Study and sum up the points of strength and of weakness in 

Allen's system of teaching jobs. 

11. Consider the reasons why the State should pay for the voca- 

tional rehabilitation of its wounded and disabled soldiers. 
The strongest of these reasons? 

12. Make a statistical study of the numbers and varieties of 

wounds received in war, and a similar study of industrial 
accidents per year. Give reasons for (a) enforcement 
of safety devices in industry; (b) vocational reeducation 
of the victims of industrial accident. 

13. Examine the laws of your State with regard to employer's 

liability. 

14. Show how industrial intelligence as well as skill may be 

developed even in a unit-trade class. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Allen, Charles R. The Instructor, the Man, and the Job. A hand- 

book for instructors of industrial and vocational subjects. Phila- 
delphia and London, New York, 1919, 373 p. 

2. Baldwin, Bird T. Occupational Therapy, Applied to Restoration of 

Disabled Joints. Walter Reed Hospital Monograph, 1919, 67 p. 111. 

3. Bibliography of Industrial, Vocational, and Trade Education. United 

States Bureau of Education Bulletin 22, 1913, 92 p. 

4. Buildings and Equipment for Schools and Classes in Trade and In- 

dustrial Subjects. Federal Board for Vocational Education. Bulle- 
tin 20, 1918, 77 p. 111. 

5. Dean, Arthur S. The Worker and the State. A study of education 

for industrial workers. N. Y., 355 p. 

6. Dearie, N. B. Industrial Training. Special reference to the condi- 

tions prevailing in London. London, 1914, 596 p. 

7. Education of Cripples. An edition of the American Journal of Care 

of Cripples, vol. IV, no. 2. June 1917, 297 p. 111. Devoted to a sym- 
posium of 14 studies chiefly concerning disabled soldiers and sailors. 
See also vol. V. 

8. Employment Opportunities for Handicapped Men in the Copper- 

smithing Trade. B. J. Morris, Red Cross Institute for Crippled 
Men. New York, 1918, 45 p. lU. 

9. English Trade Advisory Reports upon Openings in Industry Suitable 



306 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

for Disabled Sailors and Soldiers. 1. Attendants at Electricity 
Sub-Stations; 2. Employment in Picture Theatres; 3. Tailoring; 
4. Agricultural Motor Tractor Work; 5. Furniture Trade; 6, 
Leather Goods Trade; 7. Boot and Shoe Repairing; 8. Gold, Silver, 
Jewellery and Watch Clock Repairing; 9. Dental Mechanics; 10. 
Aircraft Manufacture; 11. Wholesale Tailoring; 12. Boot and Shoe 
Manufacture; 13. Basket Making; 14. Building Trades; 15. En- 
gineering; Ministry of Labour and Pensions, Whitehall, S. W. 1. 
1917-1918. 

10. Industrial Accident Statistics. U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

Bulletin 157, Washington, 1915, 210 p. 

11. Massachusetts State Board of Education, Boston, Bulletin 22, 1916, 

62 p. Information Relating to the Establishment of State-Aided 
Vocational Schools. 

12. Myers, George E. What Methods and Standards Is It Advisable to 

Adopt in the Training of Teachers of Industrial Subjects for Day 
Schools. Bulletin 26, National Society for Vocational Education, 
1918, 83 p. 

13. Ruhngs and Decisions of the Federal Board for Vocational Education. 

Includes rulings made subsequent to the pubhcation of Bulletin 1, 
1917 (which see). Second Annual Report, pp. 141-151. Wash- 
ington, D. C, 1918, 172 p. 

14. Selection and Training of Teachers for State-Aided Industrial Schools. 

Summary and Recommendations of Committee Report. National 
Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin 19, 
1917, pp. 53-56, 64 p. 

15. Smith-Hughes Act. See Appendix. 

16. Smith-Sears Act. See Appendix. 

17. Smith, Harry B. Estabhshing Industrial Schools. N. Y., 1916, 

167 p. 

18. Snedden, David. Utilization of Existing Teacher Training Institu- 

tions to Meet the Needs of Industrial School Teachers. Bulletin 26,' 
National Society for Vocational Education, 1918, 83 p. 

19. Trade and Industrial Education, Organization and Administration, 

Federal Board for Vocational Education, Bulletin 17, 1918, 125 p. 
State plans, standards, all-day trade or industrial, part-time, even- 
ing schools and classes. Text of Smith-Hughes Act. 

20. Training of the Injured. Special Report of Mass. Bd. of Education. 

House Doc, No. 1733, 62 p., 1917. 

21. Training of Teachers for Occupational Therapy for the Rehabilitation 

of Disabled Soldiers and Sailors. A Study by the Federal Board for 



EDUCATION FOR MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES 307 

Vocational Education. Senate Document 167. 65th Congress. 
1918, 76 p. 

22. Training of Vocational Teachers for Trades and Industries. L. H. 

Carris. Bulletin 26, National Society for Vocational Education, 
1918, 83 p. 

23. U. S. Federal Board for Vocational Education, Bulletins: No. 3. 

Emergency Training in Shipbuilding; 4. Mechanical and Technical 
Training for Conscripted Men; 5. Emergency War Training for 
Machine-Shop Occupations, Blacksmithing, Sheet-Metal Working, 
Pipe Fitting; 9. Training for Electricians, Telephone Repairmen, 
Linemen, and Cable Sphcers; 10. Training for Gas-Engine Motor- 
Car, and Motor-Cycle Repairmen; 11. Training for Oxy-Acetylene 
Welders; 12. For Airplane Mechanics; 17. Trade and Industrial 
Education, Opportunity Monographs: No. 7, Metal Working Trades; 
No. 8, Factory Working Trades; No. 11, Automobile Maintenance 
and Service. Washington, D. C, 1918-1919. 

24. Vocational Reeducation for War Cripples in France. Grace S. Harper. 

New York Institute for Crippled and Disabled Men. New York, 
1918, 97 p. lU. 



CHAPTER X 
EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 

The Workers: Enumeration difiBoult; men and women in business; new 
occupations; office employments; descriptions and definitions; office or- 
ganization. 

Executive Control in Business: Analysis of kinds; main divisions — 
finance, manufacturing, sales, personnel or employment; qualifications of 
employment manager. 

Development of Commercial Education: An ante-bellum review — 
France, England, Belgium, Germany, United States; statistics of enroll- 
ment. 

Terminology in Commercial Education: Important definitions; voca- 
tional commercial education; commercial arts education; analogies. 

The Needs and the Types of Schools: Analyses useful; elementary com- 
mercial education; secondary commercial education; criticisms of secondary 
training; the private commercial school; evils of private schools; excel- 
lences of private schools; higher schools of commerce; three types. 

Contemporary tendencies: Education for work in stores; New York City 
plan; department store education; methods of instruction; technical knowl- 
edge required; school credit for business experience; reducing the turn-over; 
education for foreign trade; the next step; a unit Junior and Senior High 
School plan; Federal aid for commercial education. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

The Workers 

Enumeration difficult. Illustrative of the variety of workers 
in occupations termed commercial, are the following: Account- 
ants, advertising men, agents, auctioneers, bankers, book- 
keepers, brokers, bundle boys and girls, buyers, cash boys and 
girls, canvassers, cashiers, clerks (in stores), clerks (shipping 
and others), collectors, commercial travelers, commission men, 
dealers, — retail and wholesale, decorators, deliverymen, demon- 

308 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 309 

strators, dictaphone operators, drapers, dressers (window), 
errand boys and girls, executives, exporters, floor- walkers, 
graders, importers, inspectors, insurance agents and officials, 
investment bankers, jobbers, loan-brokers, newsboys, packers, 
pawnbrokers, porters, real estate agents, sales agents, salesmen, 
saleswomen, speculators, stenographers, stockbrokers, telephone 
operators, traffic men, typists. This list refers predominantly 
to persons having to do with the buying and selling, exchange, 
or delivery of merchandise, rather than with its direct manufac- 
ture or production. 

Comparisons for periods of years of the relative numbers of 
persons engaged in commercial pursuits with the numbers en- 
gaged in manufacturing or mechanical operations are difficult 
for several reasons. The enumerators of the Census failed to 
mark off the clerks as distinguished from the salespeople em- 
ployed in retail and wholesale trade. There are occupations, 
such as those of clerks, stenographers, bookkeepers, which are 
common to many industries, while other occupations — such as 
those of linotypers, telegraphers, puddlers, pilots, are more 
nearly elemental or specific for certain industries. Furthermore, 
previous to the year 1910, the Census combined under the 
designation "Trade and Transportation" occupations later 
classified (1910) under "Trade " and "Transportation" respec- 
tively. Formerly, agents, bankers, brokers, bookkeepers, clerks, 
and copyists were for some inexplicable reason grouped with 
draymen, hostlers, steam railroad employees — engineers, switch- 
men, etc., and undertakers! However, during the year 1910, 
the United States Census reported 3,614,670 persons under 
"Trade," and 1,737,053 persons under "Clerical." These to- 
gether comprised about fourteen per cent of the gainful workers. 
(28) 

Men and women in business. There is some indication 
that commercial life tends to be progressive for boys and static 
for girls. In one large American city, Cleveland, Ohio, sixty- 



310 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

one per cent of the office workers were men, and thirty-nine per 
cent were women. However, among these workers, of those 
doing administrative work, ninety-four per cent were men and 
only six per cent were women. (3) 

New occupations. The transaction of business a half cen- 
tury ago was relatively simple as contrasted with the procedure 
of to-day. The magnitude of contemporary transactions is 
stupendous. Inventions of machinery and of labor saving 
devices — such as the telephone, the typewriter, the dictaphone, 
the adding and computing machines, filing systems, efficiency 
devices, etc., have greatly modified the variety and types of 
business and commercial activities. Relatively stable in kinds 
of activity are bankers, brokers, exporters, importers, insurance 
agents, jobbers, newsboys, retail proprietors, sales people, whole- 
sale dealers. 

Office employments. The U. S. Bureau of Labor has at- 
tempted to furnish definitions of the various office occupations 
so that specifications for help may be made uniform, also to 
furnish a means by which the individual accepting employment 
may be informed as to the nature of the work he is expected to 
do. (29) 

Descriptions and definitions. The definitions and descrip- 
tions were based upon studies extending over practically the 
entire United States. More than three score different occupa- 
tions were enumerated, as follows: 

Accountant Chief clerk 

Addressing-machine operator Claims, or complaint adjuster 

Advertising manager Clerk, general 

Auditor Collection man 

Bill clerk Comptometer operator 

Bookkeeper Controller 

Bookkeeper, type- writing machine Copy writer 

Calculating-machine operator Correspondent 

Cashier Cost accountant 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 311 

Credit man Price clerk 

Dictaphone operator Private secretary 

Dispatch clerk Production manager 
Duplicating-machine operator Publicity manager 

Ediphone operator Purchasing agent 

Employment manager Receiving clerk 

Entry clerk Houte clerk 

Executive secretary Sales manager 

File clerk Shipping clerk 

General manager Shop router 

Graphotype operator Statistical clerk 

Invoice clerk Statistician 

Ledger clerk Stenographer 

Librarian Stenotj^pist 

Mail clerk Stock chaser 

Messenger Stock clerk 

Multigraph operator Storekeeper 

Office boy Stores clerk 
Office equipment and arrangement Switchboard operator 

supervisor Tabulating-machine operator 

Office girl Telegraph operator 

Office manager Telephone operator 

Order clerk Timekeeper 

Paymaster • Traffic manager 

Personnel supervisor Transcribing-machine operator 

Phonotypist Typist 

Photostat operator Welfare supervisor 

Here are a few selected definitions of the Bureau illustrative 
of the above occupations. Code words are printed to the right. 

Accountant Abate 

Kindred Occupations: Auditor; Cost accountant. 

Description: The accountant makes a thorough study and analysis of 
the business and devises and installs the forms of books and ac- 
counts best adapted to meet the needs of the concern. Once a 
satisfactory system has been put into operation, the accountant 
oversees the general bookkeeping force and makes up statements of 



312 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

results when required. He interprets the results shown by the 
financial statements and prepares such special statements as are 
needed. 

Qualifications: Should be familiar with general office practice and 
should have an analytical mind. Should have executive abihty 
and be mentally alert. Should have graduated from an account- 
ancy school of recognized standing, or have had equivalent ex- 
perience. 

Schooling: High school; higher education desirable. 

Advertising Manager Abode 

Kindred Occupation : Copy writer. 

Description: The advertising manager plans and carries out the 
publicity policy of the firm. 

Qualifications: He must be able to write and arrange forceful, timely, 
convincing, and grammatical copy for newspapers, magazines, 
trade and house papers, catalogues, form letters, booklets, and 
other advertising mediums. He must understand the details of 
publishing and printing and must determine the size, frequency, 
and position of insertions. He should have had selling and news- 
paper experience and know the advantages and limitations of the 
various advertising mediums. He must have initiative, originality 
of expression, breadth of view, and a knowledge of human nature. 

Schooling: High school; higher education desirable, 

Card-Punching-Machine Operator Click 

Description: The card-punching-machine operator transfers data 

from original records to tabulating machine cards by punching 

holes into a standard tabulating card. 
Qualifications: Accuracy; speed. 
Schooling: Common school. 

Credit Man Card 

Description : The credit man investigates the financial standing and 

reputation of customers, and passes upon the extent of credit to 

be advanced them; approves or rejects charge sales. 

Qualifications : He should be familiar with commercial agency ratings 

and be able to read reports and statements correctly and intelli- 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE . 313 

gently. Should have some accountancy training and a thorough 
knowledge of credit instruments. He should have a thorough 
knowledge of trade and financial conditions, have keen business 
insight, should be a good judge of men, possess tact, have a good 
memory, and be thorough. 
SchooUng: High school. 

File Clerk Fade 

Description: The file clerk files away for safe-keeping letters and 

other papers, and finds them promptly when they are needed. 
Qualifications : Should have had some general office experience and 
be familiar with the various filing systems. Should be a keen ob- 
server, a quick thinker, possess a good memory and a mind for 
detail. Should be thoroughly conscientious, accurate, and alert. 
Schooling: Common school; standard course in filing, or equivalent. 

Office Manager Ocher 

Description: The office manager has charge of the office and must 

see that each department has the proper number of employees, 

that the work is satisfactory, that the methods of the office are 

efficient, that the work is properly and promptly dispatched, and 

that the workers are efficiently placed. He is responsible for 

regular and punctual attendance, and looks after the employment, 

transfer, and discharge of office help. 

Qualifications: He must be progressive and have a broad point of 

view, the power to direct others, and the ability to delegate work 

that can be done by subordinates. He must understand thoroughly 

the work of every department and its interrelations. He must 

be enthusiastic, alert, tolerant, firm, tactful, and resourceful. 

Schooling: High school; higher education desirable; accountancy 

and business courses desirable. 

Purchasing Agent Pall 

Description: The purchasing agent investigates market conditions, 

determines where the needed material can be most advantageously 

purchased, and sees that the material is bought and delivered at 

the proper time. 

Qualifications : He must know how to obtain information as to sources 



314 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of supply, and how to give records of past purchases, prices, and 
quotations. He must know how much material must be purchased 
and when to purchase it most advantageously. Good judgment; 
must be well balanced and alert; technical education in his industry 
desirable. 
Schooling: High school. 

Statistician Shirk 

Description: The statistician is responsible for the collection, com- 
pilation, and preparation of statistical tables, graphs, and reports 
of various kinds. 
Qualifications : Should have experience in investigative and statistical 
work and a broad general knowledge of statistics and their appli- 
cation to business conditions. He should be thoroughly familiar 
with the work of accounting, sales, and statistics, or have equiva- 
lent training. 
Schooling: College education. 

Tabulating-Machine Operator Tame 

Description: The tabulating-machine operator assembles the tabu- 
lating machine cards by means of an electric sorting machine, 
which classifies the cards according to the desired classifications. 
Qualifications: Accuracy, speed, manipulative skill, and a mind for 

detail. 
Schooling: Common school; special training. 

Traffic Manager Tan 

Description: The traffic manager specifies for the purchasing de- 
partment the best routing for outgoing and incoming freight; 
computes freight charges, checks freight bills, and handles all 
claims for damages, loss, or overcharge. 
Qualifications: He must be thoroughly familiar with all railroad 
routes, terminals, and tariffs in the territory over which he is to 
route freight. Must be familiar with interstate commerce laws 
and methods of packing and classifying freight. Actual railroad 
experience essential. 
Schooling: High school; courses in business arithmetic, industrial 
history, commercial geography, and business procedure. 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 315 

Transcribing-Machine Operator Thus 

Kindred Occupation: Typist. 

Description: The transcribing-machine operator types the dicta- 
tion which has been recorded on the cyhnders of the dictating 
machine. 

Quahfications : The operator should be neat, accurate, mentally 
alert, and quick. Should have a thorough knowledge of business 
English and letter writing, spelling, and punctuation. Must be a 
high-grade typist and should have had special training in tran- 
scribing. Accurate hearing. 

Schooling: Common school; high school desirable; special training 
as typist. 

Welfare Supervisor Wage 

Description : The welfare supervisor has general charge of the work- 
ing conditions that make for efficiency and well-being of factory 
and office employees. The duties include the oversight of hos- 
pitals, lunch rooms, wash rooms, and libraries, housing conditions, 
and often require visits to the homes of the workers. 
Qualifications: Must have a knowledge of factory hygiene, housing, 
education, club activities, the improvement of the industrial 
environment; courses in industrial and social sciences or equiva- 
lent. 
Schooling: College education or equivalent. (29) 

Office organization. The Cleveland Survey thus classified 
kinds of work and the positions of a typical large office organi- 
zation: (3b) 

Kinds of Office Work Classified 

Administrative Clerical 

Financiering Accounting, bookkeeping 

Organization and administration Credit work 

Merchandising and advertising Handling funds 

Development and experimentation Correspondence 

Efficiency engineering Filing, records 



316 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 



Workers 



Officials 

Managers 

Salesmen and advertising men 

Other specialists 

Assistants 



Auditors 

Accountants 

Bookkeepers 

Credit men 

Cashiers 

Clerks 

Stenographers 

Machine operators 

Telephone operators 

Messengers 

Office boys 

Executive Control in Business 

Analysis of kinds. In well-organized concerns there may 
be found different divisions of administration. Professor Robin- 
son thus outlines business organizations: (32) 



Ultimate 
Authority 
Individual 
proprietor 



General 
Policies 
Individual 
proprietor 



Departments 



Partnership Partners 



Accounting 
Purchasing 



Chief 
Executive 
Individual pro- Legal 
prietor or gen- 
eral manager 

Partners, sever- 
ally, or man- 
aging partner Manufacturing 

Executive com- 
m i 1 1 e e or 
president 

Executive com- 
m i 1 1 e e or 
president 

Main divisions. Another way of looking at the main de- 
partments of business administration yields the following four 
main divisions: 



Corporation 



Co-operative 
society 



Stockholders 
and directors 

Society and the 
committee 



Sales 
Transportation 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 317 

(1) Finance, — chiefly under the charge of a treasurer or 
president. 

(2) Manufacturing, — under the charge of a general manager, 
superintendent, or otherwise designated officer. 

(3) Sales, — under the charge of a salesmanager with special- 
ists as assistants. 

(4) Personnel, or employment. This fourth, and recently 
recognized, general division of industrial management is con- 
cerned with the centralization of activities having to do with 
the "human relations" — that is, with living, education, pro- 
motion, discipline, discharge, wage setting, pensions, sick bene- 
fits, housing, etc., of employees. 

Qualifications of employment manager. It is our purpose 
to illustrate more fully only the fourth of the above divisions — 
employment. This new division of commercial and industrial 
organization involves employing specialists rather than per- 
mitting its functions to remain under the charge of a variety of 
minor executives, superintendents, foremen, head clerks, and 
bosses. Edward D. Jones of the War Industries Board, thus 
describes the successful employment manager: (14) 

The employment manager, who measures up to the new standards 
now being set, is a first-class executive,, standing on a parity with the 
sales manager or the production engineer. He has the more need of 
talent because of the newness of his position, a circumstance which 
emphasizes flexibility of ideas, the ability to conduct investigations, 
the courage to be a pioneer, and the power of commanding the con- 
fidence of others in his pioneering. Again, his position is difficult, 
because he stands between parties which have been traditionally op- 
posed to each other, namely, capital and management on the one side, 
and labor and craftsmanship on the other. He must always perform 
the functions of a mutual interpreter and often those of a peacemaker. 

In considering a proposed occupation it is wise to present a sober 
view of its conditions, so that persons who lack a sufficient persistency 
and depth of conviction for success may be early dissuaded. Wlierever 



318 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

there is authority there is responsibility; where there is reward there 
is struggle. If the general significance of employment management 
lies in its accord with the progressive tendencies of the age, the greater 
part of the energies of the individual employment manager is absorbed 
by the practical problems of finding enough workmen, of supervising 
records, and of hearing and adjusting complaints. It may be the lot 
of an employment officer to deal with a hard-headed proprietor, who is 
habituated to take the defensive against new plans. He may encounter 
the open or concealed opposition of foremen who, for the sake of pres- 
tige, cling to functions they can not properly perform. He may find 
organized labor cold to benefits which the unions have not won, and 
which look toward the substitution of a vertical bond, uniting employer 
and employed, for the horizontal union of employees of different es- 
tablishments. 

All of this means that the successful employment manager must be a 
person exceptionally fitted for leadership. He needs good native ability, 
made serviceable by adequate general and special training. He should 
possess a well-balanced and absolutely impartial judgment. It is a 
powerful aid if he possess humanitarian instincts and a sympathetic 
disposition. These must, however, be real attributes, and not a mere 
pose or poUcy, for no deception will long blind those with whom he is 
associated. 

The person who measures himself for this position should be able 
to find indubitable testimony as to the strength of his own character, 
in the quality and amount of his achievements, and in the regard he 
has been able to earn from responsible persons with whom he has been 
associated. He should find in himself, also, the ability to understand 
human nature, not through the absurd practice of some quackery of 
phrenology and physiognomy, but by having analyzed his own nature, 
and having found therein the instincts and emotions which illuminate 
for him the motives and passion of others. 

With these endowments the employment manager should couple 
sufficient education to avoid embarrassment in the oral or written use 
of his mother tongue. His education should enable him to under- 
stand the use of general principles, avoiding the pitfalls into which the 
so-called "practical" man has usually fallen when he complains of 
"theories." And this education should have had a wide enough scope 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 319 

to enable him to meet the minds of others, and cement friendships, 
in a world of ideas larger than the details of his work. 

Finally, the employment manager is perfected for the practice of his 
art by general industrial experience and (if the position in view be in a 
manufacturing estabhshment) by actual contact with shop problems. 
This shop experience is useful to make the candidate familiar with 
factory tools, machinery, equipment, materials, and processes. It will 
instruct him, as no form of systematic training can do, in the meaning 
of factory Ufe, the significance of its discipline, the meaning of its 
schedule of hours in terms of fatigue, and in the attitude of the worker 
to his job, his boss, his fellow worker, and to life in general. Any 
general social experience which the candidate may have had, 
which has taught him how to deal with people, not as individuals 
only but in the various forms of voluntary organization, will have 
value. 

The employment manager is related to recent movements in psy- 
chology. He has an opportunity to apply appropriate performance 
tests and general intelligence tests, for the purpose of sorting out those 
persons who, although adult in physical development, have still the 
minds of children. These classes he identifies, not to reject from em- 
ployment but to place at appropriate work; not to browbeat and ter- 
rorize, but to protect and guide by patient and educative foreman- 
izing to insure their becoming happy and permanent members of the 
productive community. 

To summarize the matter of qualifications we give the relative 
weights which a number of successful employment managers have 
agreed upon for five principal factors: 

Per cent 

Personality 35 

General industrial experience 25 

Executive experience 20 

Shop experience (for employment managers in manufacturing 

establishments) 15 

Experience with organized social movements 5 

Total 100 (ibid.) 



320 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Development of Commercial Education 

An ante-bellum review. The following abstracts and quota- 
tions present the substance of an historical review of com- 
mercial education written by Dean Johnson a few years before 
the World War. These items were set forth: 

France had a few old and well-established schools of commerce, but 
on the whole the number of students in commercial education was sur- 
prisingly small, and the system was not very extensive. There were con- 
tinuation schools with evening sessions under government supervision, 
in which instruction was given in commercial and industrial subjects. 
Private commercial schools like those in the United States were also 
found in many cities. The chambers of commerce were responsible for 
three other types of commercial education: (1) Free evening classes; 
(2) secondary commercial schools; (3) higher commercial schools. Of 
the third type, the School of Higher Commercial Studies at Paris was 
the most advanced. It presumed a fair degree of maturity in the stu- 
dents, and the number of these is limited. A two-year course was given 
of about the grade of' university schools of commerce in the United 
States. Emphasis was laid upon instruction in languages, accounts, 
commercial geography, commerce, and commercial law. There were 
more than a dozen other higher schools of commerce in France. Some 
are among the oldest in the world. 

England was far behind, a fact which has caused no little uneasiness 
among English business men. The chief hindrance to progress was the 
examination method which has been in vogue there so long, and which 
naturally has given little incentive to improvement of instruction. 
Examinations in commercial subjects were conducted by the London 
Chamber of Commerce, the Society of Arts, the Institute of Chartered 
Accountants, the Institute of Banlcers, and many other bodies, each 
for its own aims and in its own way. There was little cooperation be- 
tween the bodies, although this defect is being remedied. But because 
of this unfortunate system, schools have been devoted too much to 
cramming, and development has been individual and slow. Up to the 
beginning of the present century there was little commercial education 
worthy of the name. Although there were almost innumerable va- 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 321 

rieties of commercial schools, few were comparable with similar ones 
in Germany and the United States. Continuation schools had been 
established and recognized by the Department of Education. They 
gave evening instruction of a rather elementary kind in commercial 
subjects. There were a number of private business schools, notably the 
Pitman School, similar to those in the United States, and equal to the 
best of them. Secondary schools of commerce had been established 
in a few large cities, through the efforts of the chambers of commerce 
and other commercial bodies. The London School of Economics and 
Political Science, founded in 1895 and supported at first by the Tech- 
nical Education Board of the London County Council, gave higher 
commercial instruction of a rather liberal character. In 1900 it was 
admitted into the University of London. Courses covering a wide 
range were given, and the degrees of Bachelor of Science and Doctor 
of Science were conferred upon successful candidates. Other university 
and college schools of commerce, most of them of a more professional 
character than that at London, have been established in Liverpool, 
Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and other cities. The evening courses 
have met with a fair degree of success. 

Belgium is credited with having established the first commercial 
school of true university grade at Antwerp in 1853, and the work had 
been kept up to date. 

Germany. Her growth and development in the two fields (commer- 
cial education and commerce) was rapid and simultaneous since the 
latter part of the nineteenth century, especially since 1887, which 
marked the beginning of Germany's real advance in commercial educa- 
tion. The result has been manifested in the most complete and com- 
prehensive scheme of commercial education in the world. Its salient 
features were the close relation of its several parts and its breadth of 
outlook. The system in Germany's education before the war was the 
envy of foreigners. The whole structure was planned to give a unified 
and thorough preparation for any calling in life. It was fostered and 
controlled by the government, and thus secured not only provisions for 
all classes of students, but also a harmonious interrelation of the sev- 
eral schools. The Realschulen and Oberrealschulen were credited with 
the foundation of the scheme of commercial education, because they 
had been kept constantly in touch with changing needs, and have 



322 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

therefore supplied preparation that is not too rigidly classical in char- 
acter. The strictly commercial education, however, was given mainly 
by three types of schools, corresponding roughly to the three main 
types in the United States; namely, the private commercial school, the 
public secondary school, and the university. In Germany the three 
main groups are the continuation school, or school for apprentices, the 
middle commercial school, and the higher commercial school. 

United States. The beginning of commercial education in the United 
States was characteristically American. It was a growth, not an in- 
stitution — a growth of private enterprise in response to public need. 
It was spontaneous, and several early forms were almost simultaneous. 
All were in answer to definitely voiced demands. In the early part of 
the last century there was practically nothing in the way of instruction 
to prepare for business life. Boys who looked forward to business 
careers left school early and entered stores or offices, where they served 
apprenticeships of greater or less duration. Here they learned such 
bookkeeping and business methods as were then in vogue. The quahty 
of instruction they obtained depended, of course, on the employer. 
There was small opportunity for comparison or improvement of meth- 
ods, and progress was slow, individually and, collectively. Even this 
meager instruction was not to be obtained by all. The increasing im- 
portance of commerce attracted more men than the offices and stores 
could train ; and this training, moreover, was too slow for those who had 
already reached manhood. . . . Their demand was unheeded by public 
and private schools then in existence. As it increased, private schools 
and classes in bookkeeping sprang up in all the principal cities of 
the country, somewhere between 1830 and 1840. These private schools, 
formless and unsystematic as they were, gave the first commercial 
education and were the forerunners of the modern business schools 
that are found in every important city in the United States. 

To whom belongs the honor of the first venture in commercial edu- 
cation is a matter of some dispute. It has frequently been attributed 
to R. M. Bartlett of Philadelphia, who established a school there 
in 1843 to provide the substitute for apprenticeship, of which 
he had himself felt the need. By others the honor is claimed 
for James Bennett, a New York accountant, who seems to have 
conducted a private school, in which bookkeeping and navigation 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 323 

were the principal subjects, some time between 1818 and 1836. The 
exact date when the school was begun is not known. James Gordon 
Bennett, with whom James Bennett is frequently confused, announced 
a school of this kind in 1824, but it is doubtful if it was ever established. 
Other early schools were founded by Peter Duff of Pittsburg, George N. 
Comer of Boston, and Jonathan Jones of St. Louis. Most of these 
early schools had bookkeeping as their foundation subject. There were 
some, however, of slightly different origin. They were begun by itiner- 
ant penmen, such as Silas S. Packard and Piatt R. Spencer, who formed 
penmanship classes in various cities. From these classes schools often 
sprang up. The number of these business schools seems to have in- 
creased with more rapidity than their quality. Penmanship and book- 
keeping were still the main subjects, with frequently the addition of 
commercial arithmetic and commercial law. Later stenography and 
typewriting came in. But in general the instruction given was purely 
technical and along narrow lines. Practical utility rather than cultural 
value was sought. The instructors were frequently men of deficient 
education, especially in English composition, and in many cases en- 
couraged extremely mechanical methods of work. 

What was more serious, the aims of education were often defeated 
by too great an influence of the money-making spirit in the manage- 
ment of the schools. Energetic and resourceful men estabUshed chains 
of business schools in a number of cities throughout the country. These 
they placed in charge of young men as managers, who were to share 
in the profits. The most important of these chains was that established 
by H. B. Bryant and H. D. Stratton, whose efforts began in 1853 and 
resulted in 1863 in a strong combination of schools, to the number of 
fifty or more, all under their general management. So successful were 
they that about 1866 they made an attempt to monopolize the field of 
commercial education by crushing all competition of other business 
schools. Internal dissensions and opposition by the managers of many 
of their branches, and the failing health of Mr. Stratton, the real 
director of the organization, made this plan impossible of execution. 
Other associations of commercial schools were begun in 1866, but none 
rose to the commanding position enjoyed by the Bryant and Stratton 
chain in the early '60's. The intense competition which followed was 
productive of as great evils as the monopolistic system. Special in- 



324 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

ducements were offered to part-time students. In some cases the only 
requirement for entrance was the necessary fee. Vast sums of money 
were spent in all kinds of advertising. Brass bands, stump speeches, 
and penmanship exhibitions at county fairs and the like were among the 
schemes resorted to by some of the aggressive "educators." It is not 
surprising, in view of this, that there were many charlatans in the field, 
and that the work suffered accordingly. In spite of the evils, the schools 
grew in number and in size with astonishing rapidity. They furnished 
training that was not to be obtained elsewhere, and served an extremely 
useful and necessary purpose. From an enrollment of at most a few 
score students in 1840 they increased in half a century to more than 
100,000.(7) 

Statistics of enrollment. The United States Bureau of 
Education states that the numbers of students in public and 
higher institutions had not been reported for a number of years. 
These unreported schools and the enrollment in the hundreds 
of business schools not reporting would increase the known totals, 
it is 'believed, nearly one-half million. Table XVIII on page 

325 contains data from schools reporting to the Bureau for 1915 
and 1916.(36) 

Terminology in Commercial Education 

Important definitions. Two definitions may be accepted 
as fairly well standardized in the attempt to clarify the ter- 
minology of business and commercial education. These denote 
respectively vocational commercial education, and commercial 
arts education. 

Vocational commercial education. A committee of the Na- 
tional Education Association agreed that "vocational com- 
mercial education" denotes those forms of vocational edu- 
cation the direct purpose of which is to fit for some recognized 
commercial calling, such as that of accountant, banker, 
broker, clerk, shopper, salesman, stenographer, or telegraph 
operator. 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 325 









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326 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Commercial education or preferably commercial arts education 
similarly is used to denote those studies derived from, or based 
upon, the commercial pursuits which are designed to give 
liberal or general education and to contribute to vocational 
guidance and vocational ideals in the field of the commercial 
occupations. (34) 

Analogies. The Committe declared that while the term 
commercial arts education may seem to be somewhat forced in 
this connection, nevertheless there are good analogies in the 
departments of industrial arts education, agricultural arts 
education, and household arts education. The actual out- 
come, in vocational efficiency, of many courses that have been 
designated by the term "commercial education" is in doubt. 
"This has, perhaps, been particularly the case" declared the 
Committee, "when these alleged vocational studies have been 
carried on in public high schools. The approach to them has 
usually been bookish and theoretical, and comparatively slight 
effort has been made to base either practice or intellectual study 
on the actual requirements of commercial callings." 

The Needs and the Types of Schools 

Analyses useful. It appears that: (a) Various commercial 
callings should be analyzed with reference to the adaptation to 
them of appropriate vocational courses; (b) commercial educa- 
tion not strictly vocational can be made of value to general 
education and to facilitate wise choice of occupation; (c) mis- 
directed efforts often result from the failure to draw the line 
between vocational commercial education and commercial arts 
education designed as a part of general or liberal education. It 
is probable that more than three-fourths of the workers in the 
commercial world are found in the fields of salesmanship, etc., 
over against only about twenty per cent in the specialized work 
of accountancy, stenography, and typewriting. The need of 
attention to the educational possibilities with reference to com- 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 327 

mercial life other than that of office helpers is obvious. The 
actuarial accounting preliminary to the establishment of any 
extensive vocational course is applicable to this phase of voca- 
tional education. (See page 408.) Except during the emergen- 
cies of war times there has been as a rule an over-production of 
poor-grade stenographers and office assistants, whereas system- 
atic preparation for salesmanship and the more difficult posi- 
tions in commerce has been lacking. 

Elementary commercial education. There is considerable 
demand for an elementary type of commercial education for 
boys and girls in the seventh and eighth grades. Every man or 
woman needs some training in the conduct of simple business 
affairs. There is also the possibility of utilizing such elementary 
courses in order to facilitate later a wise choice of a vocation. 
Practical methods of teaching arithmetic, simple accounting, 
courses in penmanship, typewriting, commercial geography, 
home economics, talks about industrial organization, visits to 
industrial establishments may be conducive to this end. 

F. G. Nichols calls attention to the danger of committing boys 
and girls too early to courses that lead to commercial life. Says 
he: 

There is at present a growing demand for an elementary school com- 
mercial course to take its place with other seventh and eighth grade 
vocational courses. The purposes of such a course may be stated as 
follows : To provide vocational education for a part of the great number 
of children who leave school before the high school is reached; to hold 
boys and girls in school a year or two longer; to interest more pupils 
in a complete education for business; to increase the pupil's knowledge 
of the opportunities that are open to him; to develop in boys and girls, 
by concrete instruction, business habits so essential to the largest 
measure of success in any field of human endeavor; and, in short, to 
make the seventh and eighth years count for more in the child's educa- 
tion. 

It must be kept in mind by those who would frame such a course 



328 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

that it must be essentially vocational; that it not only must be voca- 
tional, but it must be within the easy comprehension of the boys and 
girls of the seventh and eighth grades; it must also be suited to the 
occupations that are open to such boys and girls; it must be plarmed 
with regard for local requirements; it may well be differentiated for 
the two sexes, in view of the existing differences in occupational op- 
portunities open to each; it may also be planned with reference to 
urban or rural requirements. It is also important to remember that 
while early choice is extremely desirable, irrevocable choice at such an 
early age will always produce much harm unless the paths from one 
course to the other are kept open as long as possible. Further, it is 
well to recognize the fact that secondary education can not be forced 
downward into the lower school without such modification of subject 
matter as the immaturity of the grammar-school children makes im- 
perative. It may also be suggested in this connection that the tradi- 
tional business course of the secondary school is rapidly undergoing 
reorganization to meet the demands of modern business. It must, 
therefore, be apparent that the old bookkeeping and shorthand course 
will not meet the needs of the grammar-school boy and girl. 

In the junior high schools of this country elementary commercial 
courses have been organized. Almost without exception they include 
commercial arithmetic, bookkeeping, shorthand, typewriting, com- 
mercial geography, business writing, and English. They do not differ 
materially from the secondary school commercial course, notwith- 
standing the important fact that much of the subject matter is beyond 
the comprehension of grammar-school children, or the more important 
fact that boys and girls of grammar-school age are not wanted as book- 
keepers and stenographers. (9) 

Secondary commercial education. Publicly supported 
commercial education of secondary grade has been given in 
three kinds of schools. There are respectively courses in the 
usual high school, in separate "commercial high schools," and 
in "high schools of commerce." Originally, our high schools 
were generally regarded as preparatory schools for colleges and 
were often dominated by classical scholars. Scientific courses 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 329 

were given in most of the large high schools, and the public soon 
afterwards clamored also for commercial training. 

Short courses of one or two years were appearing before 1890 
and by the year 1895 there were 30,330 students enrolled in 
commercial courses in high school. In 1916 there were reported 
243,185 students in commercial courses of the public high schools 
of the United States, — about 20 per cent of the total enrollment. 
In the larger cities the average enrollment of public high school 
students in commercial courses is 27.4 per cent, ranging from 
10.5 per cent in Cleveland, Ohio, to 46.6 per cent in Boston, 
Mass. (36) In the year 1892 Professor Edmund J. James, then 
of the Wharton School Finance and Commerce of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania, delivered a notable address urging the 
establishment of separate commercial high schools. 

Criticisms of secondary training. Voicing considerable 
criticism of commercial training in high schools, E. F. Dahm 
points out that present world conditions demand modifications 
in this training. (11) He claims that our present commercial 
training in the high school too often prepares for the drudgery 
of business, — produces clerks, while the collegiate commercial 
training is for the poetry of business and that the content of 
each is too local. 

Typical commercial courses have been: bookkeeping, commercial 
arithmetic, penmanship, shorthand, typewriting, etc., and the history 
of commercial economics, commercial geography, commercial law, 
English, letter-writing, and secretarial work — with the preponderance 
of enrollment and emphasis placed upon the first group. Courses are 
given in one, two, three, or four years. The aim of first year work is 
to produce office boys; of the second, shipping clerks; of the third, 
private stenographers; of the four, -pot pourri. Says he: "Salesmanship 
too often fits for spiritualistic seance work rather than for intelligent 
marketing of goods. Grammar grade physiology has been given many 
bruises of late by shouldering upon it explanations of physiognomy, 
phrenology, and corrupted psychology." Parents and business men 



330 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

often regard high school commercial education more or less as a measure 
of last resort. Business men prefer the generally trained high school 
student and hence commercial courses attract a poor grade of student, 
thinks Mr. Dahm. Constructively he suggests that effective changes 
should be worked out by a large committee composed of business men 
and teachers from various parts of the country. (11) 

F. V. Thompson in a statement written during 1919 ob- 
served : 

The Cleveland Survey shows what any survey invariably does — that 
commercial education in our public high schools pursues a policy quite 
independent of the business needs and conditions of the community 
under consideration. Commercial education has been a thing of school 
credits and academic .standards conducted in accordance with college 
entrance requirements or with abstract scholastic procedure. Com- 
mercial educators have neither seen nor apparently cared for the actual 
conditions of employment into which their graduates may go. The 
school prepares a certain product which business must take or leave 
just as it chooses. . . . The findings of this survey, as well as the 
findings in other like surveys, illustrate beyond dispute that commercial 
education in our public high schools has followed wholly the traditions 
of the school and has been obvious to the field conditions of the voca- 
tion. There is a growing body of evidence, however, that there is a 
willingness to change our procedure. We may expect within the next 
five years to see sweeping and radical changes characterize commercial 
courses in our high schools. (5) 

The private commercial school. The private commercial 
school has been subjected to even more severe criticism than 
the commercial work of the public high school. The growth 
of these schools was spontaneous and due to private enterprise. 
Boys who entered business fifty years ago left school early and 
entered stores or offices where they gradually learned book- 
keeping or business methods. Bookkeeping, penmanship, and 
later, commercial arithmetic and law were foundation subjects 
in the various schools founded by pioneers such as Bartlett, 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 331 

Bennett, Duff, Jones, Packard, Spencer, Bryant, Stratton, and 
Eastman. 

Evils of private schools. Among the many evils these have 
been noticed in unregulated enterprises of commercial educa- 
tion: Solicitors have been employed to make visits to parents, 
and pupils often have been induced to leave school before com- 
pleting the eighth grade, a short-cut to wage-earning being 
offered as an inducement for them to take a course at the private 
school. The solicitors have sometimes worked on commission, 
and it has been estimated that from one-fourth to one-third of 
the gross receipts have been expended by some commercial 
schools for solicitation of prospective- pupils. In Chicago, it 
was estimated that during 1912 $1,425,000 was paid by individ- 
uals to private business colleges. Another evil is that public 
educational authorities have as a rule no jurisdiction or power 
over these private enterprises, with regard to capabilities of 
teachers, character of instruction, and school hygiene with ref- 
erence to ventilation, illumination, spacing, and hours. Courses 
offered may be short and superficial, while there are instances 
of pupils being induced to remain enrolled indefinitely, for the 
sake of the fee. (7) (8) 

Excellencies of private schools. Nevertheless, the private 
schools of business have graduated scores of men who have 
attained responsible positions in the world. These schools 
rendered a real service when facilities in public schools were 
lacking. Students who complete the courses of reliable institu- 
tions often gain quick mastery of the tools of business. The 
best of private schools have elevated and enriched their stand- 
ards, given much practical instruction, and surpass some pub- 
lic high schools in accomplishing a definite aim, — the specific 
training for business life. 

Higher schools of commerce. Commercial education in 
colleges and in universities has been retarded by the usual con- 
servatism that resists the entrance of new studies. The Wharton 



332 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

School of Finance and Commerce in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania made possible in 1881 by the gift of Mr. Joseph Wharton 
was for nearly a score of years practically the only higher school 
of commerce in the United States, although early attempts had 
been made in the West. The School offers special training for 
these vocations : Manufacturing, banking and finance, brokerage, 
accounting, transportation and commerce, insurance, social and 
civil work, the law and public service, journalism, secretary- 
ship, etc. 

Three types. Johnson distinguishes three types of higher 
schools of commerce: (1) Schools in which the liberal and the 
practical elements are given in coordination and evenly balanced, 
e. g., the Wharton School and schools of commerce in state 
universities. (2) Schools requiring or giving the liberal element 
first, and the practical training afterwards, e. g., the Amos 
Tuck School of Administration and Finance of Dartmouth 
College, which is a graduate professional school following college 
work. The Harvard School of Business Administration is of the 
same type. (3) Schools in which the practical or professional 
training occupies the dominant position, e. g., the Schools of 
New York University and of Cincinnati. 

Contemporary Tendencies 

Education for work in stores. "Business men," observes 

Professor Galloway, " have devoted much scientific thought 
and energy to the solving of their financial and accounting 
problems, but with all this attention to their organizations 
from the accounting, production, and general marketing point 
of view they have not been able to advance evenly and rapidly 
because of the weak link in the chain represented by the selling 
departments. "(16) Moreover, he shows: 

An examination of the activities of retail merchants shows that 
they not only play an indispensable part in the general scheme of 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 333 

business organization but also that the present attempt to increase the 
efficiency of the sales employees by extending their selling ability is a 
direct successor of a long series of efforts to carry out their economic 
function in ways most serviceable to the public. 

Four landmarks on the road of retail development stand out above 
all others : they are institutional organization, one price policy, the guar- 
antee of satisfaction, and expert personal salesmanship. 

New York City plan. An effort has been made in New York 
City to bring together in a cooperative plan the univer- 
sity — where teachers are trained, retail stores — where the jobs 
are, and the high school — where the sources of sales material 
exist. 

The experiment, the results of which during coming years 
will be of interest, was effected by the cooperation of the follow- 
ing: Chancellor Brown of New York University offered the 
educational facilities of that institution. Superintendent Et- 
tinger got the State to certificate teachers of salesmanship thus 
putting this branch of teaching on a level with other high school 
curricula. The Retail Dry Goods Association furnished finan- 
cial backing to develop teachers of salespeople of a required ser- 
vice standard. In brief, the method of training has five aspects: 
(1) University lectures and class recitations; (2) store practice; 
(3) store investigations and reports; (4) thesis based on study 
of some actual retail business problem, and (5) coordination of 
classroom work with store practice under a specialist acquainted 
both with store and classroom. 

Retail stores have been thus classified: (1) Neighborhood 
stores; (2) specialty stores, e. g., "five and ten cent stores"; 
(3) mail-order houses; (4) department stores, which carry a 
wide range of goods, — from food to books, from coffins to gas 
engines. We shall refer especially to department stores. 

Department stores employ large forces of salespeople, but 
also other workers. In Cleveland, Ohio, the occupational 
distribution of employees in five such stores was as follows: (3) 



334 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Selling force 2,958 

Office force 661 

Delivery force 383 

Marking and stockrooms 209 

Other occupations (carpenters, engineers, electricians, waitresses, 
manicures, etc.) 1,859 

The attractiveness of occupation in department stores varies 
greatly in different establishments. 

Department store education. An interesting type of cor- 
poration school is the class or institution conducted within or 
supported by the modern department stores. Most of the 
workers within such stores are girls or women, and the professed 
aims of educational courses paid for by the proprietors in the 
best of the department stores are such as these: To make ad- 
vancement depend upon efficiency rather than upon years of 
service; to increase the productiveness of employees; to discover 
whether or not a person is fitted for the vocation of selling; to 
encourage improved standards of living, better personal habits 
and ideals. In general the employees available for training in 
a department store may be classified thus : 

1. New employees. 

2. The junior force, consisting of the youngest workers, such as: 

Cashiers. 
Examiners. 
Markers, etc. 

3. Salespeople. 

4. Office workers. 

5. "Nonproductive" groups, not included with juniors, as: 

Elevator men. 
Porters. 
Drivers, etc. 

6. Executives, especially floor managers and buyers. (30) 

Published outlines and syllabi based upon the above or 
similar analyses are available, including courses in salesman- 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 335 

ship and merchandise. These syllabi are suitable for high 
school courses, part-time continuation courses for workers 
employed, evening school extension courses, and also teachers' 
courses in retail sening.(7) (12) (30) 

Methods of instruction. No distinct, well-developed technic 
of instruction can be said to exist in the matter of commercial 
education. Some of the observations we have made elsewhere 
concerning "methods" and the "technic of teaching" apply 
to those phases of vocational education called commercial. 
Professor Judd, an accomplished psychologist, notices these 
tendencies in commercial teaching: 

(1) Rapid execution — as in arithmetic and bookkeeping — is empha- 
sized. 

(2) Exactly similar conditions to those in industry are cultivated. 

(3) Stress is laid upon actual contact of the teacher with trade or in- 
dustry. 

(4) Instruction is largely individual. 

(5) Academic standards, and practical or commercial standards, are 
divergent. 

(6) Industry tends toward specialization. 

Professor Judd admits that some business colleges "have 
discovered some of the most efficient methods for training stu- 
dents rapidly in business methods." He discloses, however, 
psychological and sociological problems which are implied but 
not yet solved in the application of the six principles briefly 
indicated above. (22) 

Technical knowledge required. The necessity of contact 
with trade and industrial conditions upon the part of teachers 
in commercial education may be illustrated by reference to three 
instances. Below are shown outlines of the technical knowledge 
required in three selected occupations of a department store, 
as quoted from the Cleveland Survey. (3) 



336 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Examples of Technical Knowledge Needed 

Technical Knowledge Needed by Salespeople in the Silk 

Section 

1. Trade names of silks. 

2. Names of different colors — shades and tints of standard colors 
may have trade names at different seasons. 

3. Different kinds of silks by: 

(a) Weave: Taffetas, grosgrains, plain foulards, poplin, habutai, 
crepes (crepe de chine, crepe meteor, etc.), messaline, etc. 

(&) Finish: Brilhant, lustrous, dull, chiffon, and heavy. 

(c) Pattern: Moire, tub silks, jacquard, brocade woven as plaid, 
printed as foulard, etc. 

4. Pongees, shantungs, and raw silks. 

5. Satins: Differences in weight and weave of — duchesse, liberty, 
charmeuse, peau-de-cygne, merveilleux, etc. 

6. Silks for day wear. 

7. Silks for evening wear: Colors and combinations for evening. 

8. Velvets: Cut, uncut, chiffon, paon, panne, etc. To distinguish 

short erect piles. 

9. Velveteens: Plain and twill back. 

10. Corduroj^s: Plain and twill back, English and American. 

11. Knowledge of quantities required for garments and for special 

purposes. 

12. How to meet the "ready to wear" argument from customers: 

(a) Superior quality of material. 
(6) Better fit and finish. 

(c) Exclusive designs, no duplicates. 

(d) Original color combinations. 

(e) Adaptation to individual style and preference. 

13. To cut a true bias. 

14. To cut and prepare samples. 

15. To handle goods properly: 

(a) Display purposes. 

(b) To avoid new folds and creases in goods on shelves and 

counters. 

(c) To fold properly for wrapping. (3b) 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 337 

Technical Knowledge Needed by Drivers in the Delivery 
Department 

1. Purpose and need of traffic regulation: 

("Street traffic regulation in the management of vehicles so 
that they shall interfere with one another as little as pos- 
sible and be able to go from point to point in the shortest 
time and with the least danger to themselves and pedes- 
trians.") 

2. Responsibility for public safety divided between police and driv- 

ers: 
Drivers must know the rules and their own rights. 
Police must enforce regulations. 

3. Regulations as to keeping to the right, meeting, passing, turning, 

crossing, and stopping. 

4. Speed: 

Ordinary speed of vehicles and motor trucks. 
Passing schools and hospitals. Approaching bridges. 
Crossing bridges and draws. 

5. Right of way of: 

Police, fire department, ambulances, and U. S. Mail. 
Processions. 
Pedestrians. 

Vehicles on main thoroughfares and thoroughfares running 
east and west. 

6. Relations between vehicles and street cars : 

Right of way of street cars. 

Overtaking and passing street cars which have stopped to 
discharge passengers. 

7. Congested districts: 

Location. 

Special regulations in regard to travel in these zones. 

8. Signals: 

Semaphores. 

Colored lights. (Ibid.) 



338 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Technical Knowledge Needed by Salespeople in the Shoe 

Section 

This knowledge is arranged in the form of unit courses which are 
recommended in this report as the method of instruction. 

Lesson 1: 

Taking off customer's shoes; unbuttoning and unlacing shoes. 

Pulling out stocking. 

Putting on shoes; use of shoe horn; buttoning and lacing; tying 
lacings and ribbons. 
Lesson 2: 

The make-up of the shoe: counter, vamp, lining, etc. 

Sewed shoes, turned shoes. 

The line of the shoe; such points as the fact that taking off lifts or 
adding lifts to the heel will throw the shoe out of line and eventu- 
ally spoil its shape. 
Lesson 3 : 

Leathers and characteristics of each, wearing qualities, etc. 

Kid, calf, patent leather, suede, buckskin; also canvas cravenette, 
cloth, and velvet as shoe material. 
Lesson 4 : 

Fitting the shoe. 

Measuring a foot to determine the proper size. 

Length and width of shoes. Size marks. 

Points at which a shoe may be stretched. 

Insoles and heel pads to insure proper fit. 
Lesson 5: 

Cuts and styles: 

Cuban, French, and military heels. 
Long and short vamps, box toes, straight lasts, etc. 
Front, back, and side lacings. 
Lesson 6: 

Fitting abnormal feet : 

Such points as high insteps, bunions, tender feet, weak ankles, flat 
arches. The kind of shoe a particular foot can wear to best ad- 
vantage and for greatest comfort. (Tbid.) 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 339 

School credit for business experience. Arguments offered 
for making store work an essential part of commercial or sales- 
manship courses in high schools are such as the following: (1) 
Practice should accompany theory; (2) teacher may serve as 
interpreter of pupils' store experience; (3) pupils of high school 
age must obtain a " store background " ; (4) cooperation between 
the stores and the schools is fostered ; (5) interest may be added 
to school subjects; (6) well-conducted stores demand high stand- 
ards of punctuality, accuracy, honesty; (7) store may supple- 
ment teachers' standards regarding conduct and dress; (8) 
poise and dignity of bearing are demanded in store practice; (9) 
pupils may learn to adjust themselves to work with various 
groups of people, — customers, fellow workers, executives. (30) 

Reducing the turn-over. Analysis of one large department 
store employing about one thousand workers showed that as 
many employees left in one year as there are people normally 
employed in that store. That is, the ''turn-over of labor" in 
this establishment was one hundred per cent in one year. If we 
count the losses incurred in training new people, the costs in 
poor service and wasted materials, and the results in disappoint- 
ment and resentment of misfit employees, the problem of re- 
ducing the turn-over by scientific selection of good promotional 
material and by provisions for training and welfare work, ap- 
pears grave. 

The excessive rate of hiring and firing, of starting and quit- 
ting, observed in certain business establishments will not be 
entirely remedied by application of either or both of the above 
two remedies. In many instances the obviously much-needed 
remedies for unsatisfactory service or employment are fourfold, 
and simple, viz.: (1) Fair pay; (2) more reasonable hours; (3) 
fair systems of promotion; (4) healthful and pleasant working 
conditions. The absence of these four elements in business 
activity turns work into labor, drudgery, and even near- 
slavery. 



340 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Education for foreign trade. The increase of our merchant 
marine, our awakening to the menace of unfair methods of 
extending foreign trade, and the neglected opportunity for 
legitimate increase of business with our distant neighbors, are 
factors to-day stimulating provisions for education in foreign 
commerce. 

Colleges of commerce are offering suitable courses, and there 
are also developing short intensive practical studies in various 
phases of commerce intended better to prepare young men for 
service with establishments interested in foreign trade. It is 
hoped to develop a force of young men who will increase Ameri- 
can exports, and who as honest, capable representatives of 
American business, will also be "one hundred per cent Ameri- 
cans." (35) 

The next step. The range of commercial education in the 
United States is wide. Johnson declares: "Indeed, it is doubt- 
ful if any other country can offer so wide a range. The chief 
weakness is that there is no coherent system by which a student 
may prepare consistently for a business career throughout his 
education. The next step in advance will be to coordinate the 
various elements and bring them into closer relation with each 
other. When this is done the United States will have a system 
of commercial education second to none in the world." (7) 

Dean David Kinley recognized the need for a consistent, con- 
tinuous system of commercial education. With regard to the 
closer articulation of the commercial work of secondary and of 
college courses in commerce he drew these conclusions during 
1915: 

We are in the midst of a discussion of the proper entrance require- 
ments to college courses in commerce and other special lines. The en- 
trance requirements to colleges and universities of this country seem 
to show different principles of selection according to the views of the 
authorities in control. We can trace, first, the influence of the party 
of conservatism, which insists that the entrance requirements for the 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 341 

old college course are sufficient for all purposes. Under the pressure 
of popular demand they have indeed yielded at some points, such as 
insistence upon Greek, and in more cases, upon Latin. We find, in the 
second place, the influence of those who think they can shape up a 
group of secondary school subjects which have some ideal relation to 
the course of study which the boys are afterwards to take. Still a 
third party insists, having the interests of the high schools only in 
view, that whatever the high schools teach should be an acceptable 
training for any college course. They make a few concessions, such as 
the provision of Latin or modern foreign language for particular col- 
lege courses, but as a general proposition, what the high schools pro- 
vide, should, in their opinion, be adequate, whether it be in typewriting, 
stenography, and agriculture, or Latin, history, and English. What may 
be called a subparty of this group is made up of those who say that the 
high-school course of study should have, in other words, a local color, 
and meet the demands of the majority of the people of the community 
even though they are not going to college. They resent what is called 
the attempt of the colleges and universities to dictate the high-school 
courses; but they are acquiescent in the counter proposal that the high- 
school courses shall dictate what the college may get. . . . 

Should the preparatory course for a college of commerce include the 
commercial subjects because they are specifically preparatory to the 
college course? If so, to what extent? By specifically preparatory 
subjects I mean subjects of the same tenor, though of lower grade, 
as those of the prospective college course. These are, as usually enum- 
erated, bookkeeping, commercial arithmetic, stenography, typewriting, 
business law, business organization and management, and sometimes 
commercial geography and economic or industrial history. 

These subjects have the advantage of stimulating the special interest 
of the commercial student in a college preparatory course. That is a 
matter of considerable importance. A college of commerce is one whose 
program of study is intended primarily to increase the student's ef- 
ficiency as a breadwinner rather than as a citizen. It is vocational or 
professional in its aim and probably will become more strictly so in the 
future. Its purpose is not to prepare for clerical positions but for exec- 
utive or managerial places of more or less authority and responsibil- 
ity. . . , 



342 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

There is some likelihood that the amount of vocational study pre- 
paratory to college commercial courses will increase as commercial sub- 
jects of study grow. Business organization and practice, salesmanship, 
and advertising are subjects that are going into the programs of the 
schools and colleges. As their subject matter becomes better stand- 
ardized and teachers capable of handling the subjects appear there will 
unquestionably be a large demand for such subjects. The probability 
is therefore that the next few years will see more highly specialized 
high-school courses preparatory to the college commercial and other 
technical or semi-professional courses of study. The colleges will be 
bound to admit students on this basis. But there is no probability 
that these subjects will become the main part of the program of the 
high-school boy. He still will be obliged to have his mother tongue, 
his history, his science, and in most cases his foreign language. Even 
from the purely utilitarian point of view these subjects must be re- 
tained. (24) 

A unit junior and senior high school plan. A constructive 
effort was made by Nichols during 1919 to draw up a course of 
commercial studies having regard to the various types of school 
organization. In some cities the old eight-four plan of years or 
grades is used, in others, the six-six plan, and in still others the 
six-three-three, or junior high school plan is being tried out. 
Nichols suggests commercial curricula adaptable to all three 
forms of organization. Space does not permit reproduction 
of his outlines and explanation in full, but here are the essential 
features of his plan: 

Junior high school commercial course. 

Such a course usually has its foundation in the seventh year and 
while no special provision need be made for vocational training of 
boys and girls of the seventh school year age, it must be recognized that 
it is in this year that the choice of a course is made and the foundation 
for that course is laid. For this reason a seventh year outline is sub- 
mitted, but it is not to be understood that highly specialized com- 
mercial training is necessary in this year. 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 343 

At the end of the eighth year many boys and girls find it necessary 
to leave school and many others leave because of a desire to secure em- 
plojonent, or because of a dislike for school work. Therefore, it is 
necessary that we understand the positions that are open to such boys 
and girls. In a general way we may include the following among the 
occupations in which such boys and girls are employed: Check and 
cash messenger; bundle clerk; shipping clerk; stock clerk: general 
clerical assistant; mail clerk; mimeograph operator, etc. 

Those who finish the ninth year will find it possible to secure posi- 
tions as assistant bookkeepers, typists, and general office workers — 
positions slightly in advance of those open to eighth year boys and 
girls. 

It should be remembered that in each year's work an attempt is 
made to interest the student to such an extent as to induce him to re- 
main in school for more advanced training. It has not been found 
necessary to eliminate fundamental academic training such as English, 
arithmetic, domestic art, physical training, history, geography, and 
science, in order to prepare for the simple vocations for which he should 
be prepared. It is, therefore, quite possible for a student to cross over 
to almost any other course in the tenth year, if it seems best to do so. 
This is purely incidental, however, and has not influenced the organiza- 
tion of the course in any degree. 

Senior high school commercial course. 

Those who remain for the tenth year in high school will find the fol- 
lowdng positions among others, open to them: Bookkeeping positions 
of a more advanced character than those of the routine type referred 
to as being open to graduates of the ninth year; filing positions in which 
considerable responsibility is placed upon those who have complete 
charge of the files; positions as mail clerks with full responsibility for 
receiving and distributing the incoming mail and preparing and dis- 
patching outgoing mail; shorthand positions of a simple character 
for those who have elected this subject in the tenth year; and clerical 
work of a more advanced character, including machine work of differ- 
ent kinds. From the tenth year on, however, through the eleventh and 
twelfth years, a form of specialization ought to be made available. 
Students who have shown marked ability in English, use of words, 



344 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

spelling, shorthand, and typewriting, and who have shown some of the 
characteristics that go to make a good secretary, may be encouraged 
to specialize along tliis line. Such specialization will be especially 
advantageous for girls who desire to enter stenographic and secretarial 
positions. 

Other students may show special aptitude for salesmanship. Such 
students may well be given an opportunity to specialize in an occupa- 
tion that is rapidly developing along lines that will insure its place 
among the most desirable commercial occupations — retail selling. 
Others, especially boys, may be trained for outside selling. 

Those who show special ability along accounting lines, or in general 
business administration, may be given a chance to prepare for account- 
ancy and general business positions including advertising, salesman- 
ship, and executive work. 

In certain cities where foreign trade is important, those who are 
interested in this field should have an opportunity to specialize in it. 

Therefore, the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth years are set up with 
the idea of affording such specialization as may be called for by cer- 
tain well marked aptitudes. (27) 

Federal aid for commercial education. To discover and 

isolate the items of Federal aid for commercial education would 
entail a review of work done by the United States Bureau of 
Education, by the Department of Commerce and Labor, and 
by various governmental schools maintained in Porto Rico, 
Hawaii, the Philippines, and Alaska. The Federal Board for 
Vocational Education operating under the Smith-Hughes and 
Smith-Sears Acts of Congress aided commercial education in 
three ways: namely, (1) by research; (2) by cooperating in 
paying the costs of part-time classes; (3) by maintaining pro- 
visions for the vocational reeducation of disabled soldiers. 

The general provisions of the Smith-Hughes Act as they apply 
to day and evening scliool instruction did not permit the use of 
Federal money for instruction save in "trade, industrial, home 
economics, and agricultural subjects." The Board, however, 
interpreted the law to include commercial education, under its 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 345 

provision for the maintenance of part-time schools and classes 
for persons over fourteen years of age who have entered employ- 
ment. This arrangement, declared L. S, Hawkins, Chief of the 
Division of Vocational Education, (17) provided opportunity 
for one of the most effective schemes of commercial education, 
since young people may enter a wage-earning occupation and 
at the same time continue their education along commercial 
lines. 

Summary 

1. The numbers of women workers engaged in business and 

commerce steadily increases and new processes and occupa- 
tions therein demand skillful adjustment of the schools to 
meet legitimate needs of prospective and employed work- 
ers in these fields. Knowledge of modern business organ- 
ization is a first step in the cooperation of the schools, 
business, employees, and employers. 

2. Ultimate executive control in business has many different 

forms, as — individual, partnership, corporation, cooperative 
society. Students of commercial education will note also 
the functions of various departments — finance, manufactur- 
ing, sales, personnel or employment. The employment 
manager of tomorrow should be a man thoroughly familiar 
with industry, but also well trained in scientific methods of 
judging men, and of suitable personal qualifications him- 
self. 

3. The history of commercial education before the World War 

is a record of irregular development in most countries, and 
not commensurate with the attention devoted hitherto by 
public school men to elementary, general, and secondary 
education. The eye-opening results of this war have given 
us different appraisals of the values of the German and 
other foreign school systems. It is interesting now to 
review appraisals written before the cataclysmic event. 



346 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

It seems certain that commercial education in the United 
States will develop rapidly and in new forms devised sci- 
entifically by Americans. 

4. Difficulties of standardizing terminology appear in commer- 

cial education, similarly as in industrial and agricultural 
education. To be noted are the distinctive courses in 
vocational commercial education and in commercial arts 
education. 

5. The older destructive criticisms of commercial education — 

elementary, secondary, collegiate — and of private com- 
mercial schools is giving place to constructive efforts, e. g., 
in coordinating commercial work in junior high schools, 
senior high schools, and colleges, both into a unified se- 
quence, and also with practical business life. 

6. Recent developments include extensive preparation for store- 

occupation, as witness the New York experiment; school 
credit for supervised business experience; education for 
foreign trade; and especially the extension of Federal aid 
through the support of part-time classes, under a liberal 
interpretation of the Smith-Hughes Act. 

In our preceding discussions it has been assumed that 
the reader understands that girls and women, as well as 
boys and men may be beneficiaries of the various plans for 
» vocational education — be it agricultural, trade and indus- 

trial, or commercial. There are problems of vocational 
education, however, that peculiarly concern girls and 
women. Some of these matters we shall take up in the 
following chapter. 

Problems 

1. By interviews with officials obtain material and make a 
chart showing all occupational designations and organ- 
ization of the complete force of a large firm. Show the 
steps of possible promotion. 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 347 

2. Prepare analyses or descriptions of selected commercial 

occupations listed in the above organization chart. In- 
clude what a given worker must know and must be able 
to do in order to be efficient in the position. 

3. Study a local establishment with reference to provisions for 

good ventilation, illumination, lunches, seats, hours of 
labor, orderly supervision, general conditions for physical 
and mental hygiene. 

4. Study the ante-bellum selling methods of the Germans in 

foreign trade. 

5. To what extent should elementary commercial courses be 

specialized? 

6. Collect specimens of printed courses in salesmanship and 

ascertain modifications necessary for local use. 

7. To what extent and how may the "project method" of 

instruction be applied in elementary and secondary com- 
mercial education? 

8. Read 0'Leary(3b), then study local estabUshments, and 

afterwards write a careful report upon the advantages 
and disadvantages of the department store as a business 
field for men and for women, respectively. 

9. From U. S. Education Reports (1917, vol. II, p. 552), as- 

certain definitely the variety of systems of shorthand 
now being used in commercial schools. 
10. How may courses in economics and political science of 
colleges of commerce be correlated practically with busi- 
ness life, and how may civics as a course be similarly 
modified in commercial work of secondary schools? 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Advertising, Selling, and Distribution. Report of the Committee of 
the National Association of Corporation Schools. Buffalo Conven- 
tion, 1917, 893 p. Pp. 638-664. 

Contains analyses of subject into seven divisions, outlines of 
courses, examples of courses given of several corporations, etc. 



348 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

2. Business Education. Department of Business Education of N. E. A., 

Proc. Portland Meeting, 1917, 864 p. Pp. 315-339. 

3. Cleveland, Ohio, Education Survey Reports: 

(a) Boys and Girls in Commercial Work — Stevens. 

(b) Department Store Occupations — O'Leary. 

4. Committee of Nine on Commercial Education. Proc. N. E. A., 

1904. 

5. Commercial Education. Section of U. S. Education Report, ch. XIII, 

pp. 219-236, vol. I, 1916. F. V. Thompson. 

6. Commercial Schools of the United States and Germany Contrasted — 

in Industrial and Commercial Schools of United States and Germany. 
Frederick W. Roman, ch. XVII, pp. 244-263. 

7. Commercial Education. Joseph F. Johnson in Monroe's Cyclopedia 

of Education, vol. II, pp. 143-154. 

8. Commercial Education in Chicago and in Other Cities. Part III (pp. 

238-269) of Report on Vocational Training. Committee on Public 
Education, City Club of Chicago, 1912, 315 p. 

9. Commercial Education. A report on the Commercial Education Sub- 

Section of the Second Pan-American Scientific Congress. U. S. 
Education Bulletin, 25, 1916, 94 p. 

10. Commercial System for the Farmers. W. B. Yeary. Vocational Sum- 

mary, Washington, January, 1919, p. 21. 

11. Dahm, E. F. Modifications in Commercial Training Suggested by Pres- 

ent World Conditions. Proc. National Education Association, 1917, 
pp. 396-332, 864 p. 

12. Department Store Education. Helen R. Norton. U. S. Education 

Bulletin 9, 1917, 79 p. 111. 

13. Eaton, Jeannette and Stevens, B. M. Commercial Work and Training 

for Girls. N. Y., 1915, 289 p. 111. 

14. Employment Management. Opportunity Monograph No. 12. Federal 

Board for Vocational Education, Washington, 1919, 15 p. 

15. Farrington, Frederic E. Commercial Education in Germany. N. Y., 

1914, 258 p. 

16. Galloway, Lee. The New York Plan for Training Teachers of Retail 

Selling. Bulletin 29, 1919. National Society for Vocational Educa- 
tion. 79 p. 

17. Hawkins, Layton S. Federal Aid for Commercial Education Available 

under Recent Interpretation of the Smith-Hughes Act. Bulletin 
29, 1919. National Society for Vocational Education. 79 p. 

18. Herrick, C. A. Meaning and Practice of Commercial Education. 

N. Y., 1904, 378 p. 



EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS AND COMMERCE 349 

19. James, Edmund Janes. Commercial Education, Monograph for Uni- 

versal E.xposition, St. Louis, 1904, 51 p. 

20. James, Edmund Janes. The Education of Business Men. A view of 

the organization and courses of study in the commercial high schools 
of Europe, Chicago, 1898, 232 p. 

21. Johnston, Charles H. The Modern High School. N. Y., 1914, 847 p. 

22. Judd, Charles H. Psychology of High School Subjects. N. Y., 515 p. 

Rise and development of commercial courses. Emphasis on rapidity 
of execution and imitation of business conditions. Pp. 285-302. 

23. Kahn, Joseph and Klein, Joseph. Principles and Methods in Com- 

mercial Education. N. Y., 1914, 433 p. 

24. Kinley, David. Entrance Requirements to College of Commerce. 

Proc. Second Pan-American Scientific Congress. U. S. Education 
Bulletin 25, 1916. Pp. 49-50, and printed separately. Government 
Printing Office, 1917, 8 p. 

25. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Commercial Education, chs. Ill, IV, XVII, 

and XXI. U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Bulletin 199, 1916, 
592 p. 

26. Moran, S. H. Commercial Education. In Johnston's High School 

Education, N. Y., 1912, 555 p. See ch. XXII. 

27. Nichols, F. G. The High School Commercial Course— A Unit Plan. 

Bulletin 29, 1919, National Society for Vocational Education, 79 p. 

28. Occupations. U. S. Census, 1910, vol. IV. 

29. Office Employees, Descriptions of Occupations. U. S. Bureau of 

Labor, Washington, 1918, 20 p. 

30. Prince, Lucinda W. Present Accomplishments and Some Future Possi- 

bilities in Training for Department Store Work. Bulletin 22, Na- 
tional Society for Promotion of Industrial Education. Pp. 41-50. 

31. Retail Selling. Bulletin 22, 1918. Federal Board for Vocational Educa- 

tion, 1918, 95 p. Contains bibliography. 

32. Robinson, Maurice H. Organizing a Business. Chicago, 1915, 269 p. 

33. Scott, W. D. Selections of Employees by Means of Quantitative De- 

termination. Annals of Am. Acad, of Pol. and Social Science, May, 
1916. 

34. Secondary Vocational Education. Report of Committee of N. E. A. 

U. S. Education Bulletin 21, 1916. See pp. 43, 44, 152. 

35. Service Instruction of American Corporations. Lombard F. Field, 

U. S. Education Bulletin 34, 1916, 73 p. 

36. U. S. Education Report, vol. II, 1917, pp. 551-610. 

37. Vocational Summary. Federal Board for Vocational Education, Wash- 

ington, August 1918, p. 6. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND 
WOMEN 

Underlying Principles: Complications of the problem; sex differences; 
psychology of adolescent girls; individual differences; equality vs. differ- 
ence; intellectuals, democracy, and home-making; occupational tendencies; 
terminology; dual responsibility in home-making. 

Home Economics; Household Arts Education: (a) Definition; (6) in 
elementary and high schools; (c) in rural schools; (d) in evening schools. 

Home Economics; Vocational Home-making Courses: (a) Definition; 
(b) phases of home-making; (c) part-time courses for housewives. 

Industrial and Trade Extension Schools for Women: (a) All-day trades 
schools for girls; (6) information needed; (c) trade-extension courses. 

Applications of the Smith-Hughes Act: (a) No sex distinctions; (6) half- 
time instruction; (c) evening schools to be supplemental; (d) interpreta- 
tions tentative. 

Other Vocational Education of Women: Leake's book; professional train- 
ing; the woman over forty; chivalric regard. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

Underlying Principles 

Complications of the problem. The formal education of a 
girl or woman is a more complex problem than the education 
of a man. The normal woman is usually a home-maker and 
mother, and in addition she may be an industrial or commercial 
or professional worker like a man. L^^mnarried women in indus- 
trial pursuits do not as a rule have the full responsibihty of 
home-making; nevertheless by instinct or by habit even the 
bachelor-woman, more than the man, has to do with the care of 
home or apartment, with choice and production of clothing, or 
with preparation of food — if we except from our consideration 

350 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 351 

the merely ornamental, or parasitic woman. There are other 
complicating factors involved in the education of women. Race, 
nationality, geographical location, conventions, law, are potent 
factors affecting both the employment and the education of 
girls. The question of sex differences in mental capacities, 
traits, and physical characteristics, as related to education and 
to industry is also a favorite theme for discussion in this day of 
suffrage and the entrance of woman into industrial pursuits. 

Sex differences. Data from psychological experimentation 
tend to favor two conclusions: (1) In the present state of sci- 
entific knowledge it would be as dogmatic and undesirable to 
state that significant sex differences in intellect do not exist, as 
to state that such differences do exist; (2) experimental psychol- 
ogy has disclosed no sex differences in mental traits which would 
require a division of labor on psychological grounds. (20) In 
addition to the meagre literature of experiment and fact bear- 
ing upon this question there is also a vast literature of opinion, 
i. e., of written statements made both by scientific and by lit- 
erary men, e. g., the writings of the ancients, historians, phil- 
osophers, poets, dramatists, as well as of modern writers. 

The traditional view running through the ages is that the 
chief sphere of woman is in the home, and that her aptitudes 
are for activities connected with the nurture of the young, and 
for housekeeping, or for wholesome partnership with man the 
fighter, or hunter, or craftsman. The realities of love and the 
glamor of romance have this assumption as a foundation. All 
degrees of emphasis are found in the doctrine of woman as the 
partner and helper of man. These emphases vary from the 
brute-like subjection of women among races whose men force 
them to do all painful drudgery and manual labor, to the other 
extreme where the negatively good woman is cared for like a 
fragile piece of Dresden china. 

Psychology of adolescent girls. It is not within the scope 
of this book to set forth the psychology of the very young girl. 



352 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

or of the adolescent girl, or of the mature woman, or of the 
"woman over forty." The characteristics, aptitudes, and 
social relations of each group should be duly weighed in planning 
vocational courses. Of interest to teachers of secondary educa- 
tion, and to conscientious employers are available studies on the 
nature of the young adolescent girl, particularly of the girl in 
the early teens. She may manifest characteristics, many of 
which will be ephemeral, but some of which are the bases of her 
whole after-life. Since the publication of President Hall's com- 
pendious and pioneer studies of adolescence based upon biologi- 
cal, anthropometric, psychological, and questionnaire data, the 
literature of adolescence has increased remarkably. Recent 
studies by Baldwin, Wooley, Healy, Whipple, Hollingsworth, 
and others, point the way to secure foundations for our teach- 
ing regarding adolescence. 

In addition to commonly recognized characteristics of the 
adolescent girl, certain minor psychic abnormalities sometimes 
observed will not be overlooked by parents, teachers, or good 
employers, who would give youth a square deal. Some of these 
abnormalities shade into temporary tendencies of no conse- 
quence; others demand the best of mental hygiene. The prob- 
lem of the psychopathic employee, as well as of the psychopathic 
student, becomes occasionally a crucial matter, and the pre- 
vention of any conditions tending toward dementia is always 
desirable, both in industry and in education. 

Individual differences. The Thirteenth Census counted 
nearly 9,000,000 single women over 15 years of age, and more 
than 21,000,000 over 15 years of age who were married, widowed, 
or divorced. The various age groups, and the different economic 
groups, present numerous problems in the organization of voca- 
tional classes and schools to meet both individual and commun- 
ity needs in the case of girls and women. There must be, for 
example, courses for girls from 14 to 16 whether they be in 
school or employed; for girls from 16 to 18, from 18 to 25, from 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 353 

25 to 40. "Extension home-making education" is a form of 
continuation work that is useful for numerous groups of women. 

In the planning of educational work for either sex one must 
consider, in addition to attention to community needs, the im- 
portant matter of individual capacity. Until one measures by 
physical and mental tests the members of a class or of a sup- 
posedly homogeneous group, it is easy to err in the assumption 
that individual differences in an ordinary class or group are not 
great. Schemes of promotion and methods of instruction are 
frequently based upon the false assumption that pupils are 
practically duplicates. 

Personal, characteristic, or individual differences, that are 
found in boys and in girls, may be inherited qualities, or they 
may be due to the circumstances in which available educational 
opportunities differ for the sexes. In general, there are num- 
erous causes of individual differences, e. g., influence of remote 
ancestry, of immediate ancestry, of growth or maturity, of phys- 
ical and social environment, of special practice, of health and 
disease, etc. 

Equality vs. difference. Sex differences regarded from the 
anatomical and physiological points of view, are not altogether 
matters of opinion and debate. The obvious physical differences 
of women and men both in structure and in function, the relative 
early maturity of woman and her maternal capacity, do not 
demand proof from anatomist or physiologist, for these differ- 
ences are known to all. The whole question of sex differences 
in relation to education and vocation has been confused by the 
tendency to debate the "equality" of the sexes. (11) The mat- 
ter is not so much a question of equality as it is one of dif- 
ference. We would not think of comparing as equal or unequal 
the perfection of a watch or a compass, with the perfection of a 
locomotive or a ship. In either case, the mechanisms are rela- 
tively perfect in themselves, but in each case there are both com- 
mon, and also unique functions. 



354 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Intellectuals, democracy, and home-making. One who 

reads Mason's interesting study of woman's share in primitive 
culture and in the beginnings of modern industries, will feel that 
the two-fold part woman is playing in the home and in industry, 
is merely a new form of her indispensable usefulness in all gen- 
erations. The work of the home in the eyes of some girls is 
nothing more than menial drudgeiy. Too often, owing to pov- 
erty, or ignorance, or selfishness of one or of all members of a 
family, home-making is little more than slavery. As ancient as 
Aristotle (5) is the notion that household tasks are necessarily 
menial. A more prevalent idea, however, to-day is that home- 
making demands the best fruits of science, and art, as well as of 
romance and sentiment, 

A certain type of pseudo-education has misled some young 
girls in regard to the aims of woman. Of this type were the 
"finishing school" and the "young ladies seminary" now hap- 
pily obsolescent, where girls without sufficient general education 
were taught to dress, to walk into a parlor with a mincing step, 
to dabble in music, painting, the theater, and foreign languages. 
Under the delusion that they were educated, they have been 
graduated without training in personal hygiene, or in the funda- 
mentals of science, without a hunger for good literature, and, 
worst of all, with habits of indolence and a craving for excite- 
ment and adulation. 

Fully as deplorable is the effect of garbled or ill selected col- 
lege and university courses which some women pursue to their 
detriment. Half-baked ideas in philosophy as related to re- 
ligion, psychology, political science, and ethics, ideas which the 
student may accept as "radical" or "modern," are not recog- 
nized by them as merely echoes of Gorgias, or of Zeno, or of 
Nietzsche. There are imitators of Nietzsche, whose vicious 
doctrines have been lamented even by some of his own best 
countrymen, doctrines which helped to poison Germany into 
war-madness and forced the World to determined resistance. 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 355 

The writer has encountered disciples of Nietzsche who do not 
even know that he died insane. They speak with admiration 
of his beastly doctrines of sex, anti-home, anti-church, anti- 
hospital, anti-schools, anti-civilization; such disciples affect 
"all of his audacity without manifesting a spark of his genius," 
declared Paulsen. (36) , 

In large universities there is found sometimes a small, minority 
group of graduate students or instructors of this type. Usually they 
are not taken very seriously by their professors and seniors. During 
war-times they fluently used the terms "socialist," and "bolsheviki," 
and "intellectuals," in grave discussions. Very occasionally a young 
woman of the type reveals herself. E. g., during the World War a 
woman student was heard to say seriously: "How absurd is the view 
that a woman should marry, give up her name and career in order to be 
a mere helper of a man!" It was mildly suggested first that history 
shows that the great achievements of men have in most cases been 
inspired and supported by the mothers, or wives, or sweethearts; and 
that achievement and work are more important than the glorification 
of any name, be it of man or woman. "But," retorted she, "think of 
Nietzsche; he never married! " It would seem that in view of the large 
success of our universities in producing leaders and their stalwart 
patriotism, as well as our dependence upon science, some way should 
be found to purge ourselves of embryo enemies of society and civiliza- 
tion, who are supported by public funds. 

By the assertion of plain ideals of American Democracy, the 
tradition and life of the American home at its best is particu- 
larly to be upheld. In the vocational education of women the 
opportunities for work and for happiness in the home should 
be promoted at every step. It is not alone in the disappearing 
types of pseudo-education for women indicated above that 
there is some danger of perverting woman from her inalien- 
able function of the home, — inalienable because she is born 
to be mother, sweetheart, sister, whatever else may be her 



356 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

capacities. The specific training of girls in lower schools for 
wage-earning occupations also is encompassed by the same 
danger. 

The experience of the New York and of the Massachusetts 
trade schools for girls amply proves the utility of such schools. 
Wherever specific trade-training or education of any kind is 
given to girls, however, the fact must never be lost sight of that 
the vast majority of women will marry. They who do not marry 
need for the health and happiness of themselves and others an 
acquaintance with home-making. True, we are reminded, home 
may be more an esprit de corps, an atmosphere, rather than a 
house or "furniture and meals." To maintain through good 
feeling, morals, and efficiency, the satisfaction of home is an 
excellent objective of teaching for women. The United States 
Commissioner of Education, P. P. Claxton, has clearly expressed 
this belief, as follows : 

In America at least the home is the most important of all institu- 
tions. From it are the issues of life. In the little world of the home 
children are iDorn and reared. In it they grow to manhood and woman- 
hood. From it they go forth into the larger world of society and state, 
to estabhsh in turn their own little world of the home in which they 
grow old and die. Their memories linger around the homes of their 
childhood; the memories of them held by later generations are associ- 
ated with the homes of their manhood and womanhood. In the home 
children receive the most important part of their education. In the 
home must be estabhshed their physical, mental, and moral health. 
The experiences of home constitute the raw material of the education of 
the schools. The character and the teaching, conscious or unconscious, 
of the home determine in a large measure their attitude toward all 
other institutions and toward all the relations of life. From the home 
parents and older children go forth to their daily toil, and to the home 
they bring the products or the earnings of their labor, to be expended, 
wisely and prudently or unwisely and imprudently, for food, clothing, 
shelter, and the other necessities and luxuries of life. For most people 
the home is the beginning and end of life. All their activities proceed 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 357 

from it and return to it. Therefore, of all the arts those pertaining to 
home-making are the most important and of all the sciences those which 
find their application in the home, making us intelligent about the home 
and its needs, are the most significant. 

If the schools are to assist in making us intelligent about the life 
we hve and the work we do, they must provide liberally for instruction 
in these arts and sciences. Within the last two or three decades, 
educators and people generally have become conscious of this fact as 
never before, and gradually the schools are being readjusted to meet 
the new demands. 

Aristotle said that "those occupations are most truly arts in 
which there is the least element of chance; they are the meanest 
in which the body is most deteriorated, the most servile in which 
there is the greatest use of the body, and the illiberal in which 
there is the least need of excellence. "(5) To develop home-mak- 
ing to a true art is a specific effort of contemporary education. 
Profiting by scientific methods of observation and experiment, 
experts in home-making interested in teaching, or in imparting 
their experience to others, have systematically studied the field 
of woman's work in the home. Thus this field of life-work, which 
to-day engages the daily labors of more than twenty millions 
of women in America, is illuminated. Science is removing un- 
necessary drudgery, long hours. Industrial arts and invention 
are contributing mechanical appliances to the service. Chem- 
istry and hygiene are increasing health and strength. The good 
home-maker of today, rich or poor, possesses the graces of the 
refined hostess and of the stimulating, pleasing conversation- 
alist. Music and art are making houses attractive, and civic 
interests are supplanting isolation and selfishness in the homes 
of the country and of the city. The manifold possible activities 
of a woman in the home — as mother, wife, social companion, 
business partner, trainer of children, protector of health, etc., 
have been analyzed and charted. Scores of good schools rang- 
ing from elementary to university rank make it possible for a 



358 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

girl to obtain the coveted preparation for any or all of these 
activities iri home-making. 

Mrs. Hickok has interestingly charted the scope of work of 
the home-maker. The chart-analysis is the more interesting 
because modern industrialism has taken from the family group 
so many productive processes, forcing the man-partner out of 
the home in order to obtain an income and leaving the woman- 
partner in the home largely to deal with consumption and 
management. (18) A sad feature is that long hours and fatigue 
in industry often leave inadequate opportunity for congenial 
companionship in hours of recuperation. 

Occupational tendencies. The percentages of gainful 
workers (total 38,167,336) who are females in the major occupa- 
tional groups are: Agriculture, 14.3; Extraction of minerals, 
0.1; Manufacturing and mechanical, 17.1; Transportation, 4.0; 
Trade or commerce, 12.9; Public service, 3.0; Professional ser- 
vice, 4.1; Domestic and personal service, 67.1; Clerical, 34.2. 
Home-makers (women) not working for wages probably consti- 
tute a third (22,000,000, estimated) of all workers. 

The limited range of occupations which conventionally may 
be in mind for women is illustrated by some data obtained from 
the parents of about six thousand pupils, all of the pupils being 
13 years of age or older. With the help of teachers the parents 
were asked to indicate both what the boy or girl wished to do or 
be, and also for what occupation the parent thought the son or 
the daughter best adapted. 

The data were obtained in the largest city of the South, where 
there exist separate schools for white and for negro pupils. The 
study in many instances showed failure of parents and of chil- 
dren to agree upon the matter of proposed occupation. While we 
must not stress unduly the significance of the replies received, 
nevertheless they are interesting to show the range and charac- 
ter of occupation in the minds of the parents and of pupils under 
the given conditions for boys and for girls, for whites and for 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 359 

negroes. In condensed form the results disclose the follow- 
ing numbers of boys and of girls over 13 years of age in 
the elementary schools, desiring respectively the occupations 
indicated. 

White Boys: Total 2, 244. Range of occupations in minds of boys, 
over 100. Boys undecided or not answering, 595. Most commonly 
preferred occupations: Bookkeeper, clerk, stenographer, etc., 448; 
engineer, 336; machinist or mechanic, 141; doctor, 92; lawyer, 69; 
electrician, 67; carpenter, 48; architect, 42; plumber, 32; operator, 27; 
artist, 24; musician, 19; farmer, 18; merchant, 17; druggist, 17; sales- 
man, 16; teacher, 13. 

White Girls: Total 2,821. Range of occupations, 56. Undecided 
or not answering, 878. Most commonly preferred occupations: Stenog- 
rapher, booldveeper, clerk, etc., 753; teacher, 522; dressmaker, seam- 
stress, etc., 361; milliner, 73; housekeeper, housework, 38; musician, 
35; nurse, 28; operator, 16; druggist, 7. 

Negro Boys: Total 244. Range, 33. Undecided, etc., 10. Most 
commonly preferred: Carpenter, 49; brickmason, 32; mail carrier, 32 
mail clerk, 25; doctor, 20, druggist, 10; blacksmith, 8; mechanic, 7 
teacher, 7, chauffeur, 5; painter, 4; typist, 4; farmer, 3; musician, 3 
slater, 2; shoemaker, 2; tile setter, 1; tailor, 1. 

Negro Girls: Total 499. Range, about 20. Undecided, etc., 26. 
Most commonly preferred: Dressmaker, 211; teacher, 170; seamstress, 
37; nurse, 26; stenographer, 7; hair dresser, 6; musician, 5; cook, 3; 
housework, 3; caterer, 2; artist, 1.(19) 

The kind of occupations actually entered by girls leaving 
school is of course largely determined by local opportunities. 
For example, in the investigation made in Worcester, Mass., a 
typical manufacturing city of New England, it was found that 
of 727 girls, 22 per cent entered mercantile establishments, 
75 per cent manufacturing establishments. Machine operating 
trades took 38 per cent, 28 per cent entering corset fac- 
tories. The different manufactures entered by 549 girls were 
as follows: (42) 



360 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

TABLE XIX 

Manufactures Into Which Girls Go From School in Worcester, 

Mass. G^^y^ 

Corsets and accessories 206 

Textiles, spinning, knitting 104 

Metal trades 71 

Paper goods 46 

Clothing, factory product 36 

Shoes and leather 33 

Food and drug products 21 

Millinery 8 

Novelties 5 

Dressmaking 3 

Brushes, combs, rubber 3 

Laundry 4 

Printing 2 

Piano Company 1 

Vaudeville • 1 

Miscellaneous 5 

Total 549 

The ages of these 727 working girls of Worcester are tabulated 
in the table below. Sixty per cent were only 14 years of age. 

TABLE XX 

Girl's Ages Leaving School in Worcester, Mass., 1909-1910 

Age Number 

Under 14 years of age 7 

14 and under 15 431 

15 and under 16 177 

16 and under 17 24 

17 and under 18 4 

Unclassified 84 

Total 727 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 361 

War-emergency work changed the occupations of thousands 
of women who took the places of men released for service on the 
firing line. Upon the farm, in manufacturing establishments, 
in transportation, in Red Cross and Y. W. C. A. and church 
work, in nursing, teaching, etc., the numbers of women increased 
in England, France, and America. One can not predict how 
permanent this tendency for women to do the work of men will 
be. During thirty years preceding 1910, the general occupa- 
tional tendencies of women have been toward trade and trans- 
portation (increase sixfold) and professions (increase over 20 per 
cent), and away from agriculture, and domestic and personal 
service (for wages). There has been a slight decrease in the 
number of females in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, 
due doubtless to improved legislation regarding factory employ- 
ment of girls and women. These are generalizations merely for 
the whole country, and should not be interpreted as applying 
exactly to any one community. 

Terminology. There is considerable variety in the termin- 
ology of classes, courses, and schools related to the vocational 
education of women. (41) We find the expressions: Household 
economics, household arts, home economics, domestic science, 
vocational home-making schools, recreational courses, industrial 
arts schools, practical schools, trade schools, extension trade 
courses, all-day industrial schools, part-time schools, evening 
schools, professional schools, etc. Most of these expressions 
demand no further definitions than those given in preceding 
discussions. Some of the terms, however, demand explanation 
and illustration, as concerns the education of girls and of women. 
In this chapter it is our purpose to emphasize phases of educa- 
tion designed to promote home-making. The general character 
of vocational schools and the problems of education in trades and 
industries, both for boys and for girls, have been indicated in the 
preceding chapter. Agriculture, trade, industrial, and commer- 
cial education as provided for in the Smith-Hughes Act applied 



362 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

both to boys and to girls. The only other term used in the Act 
is the generic expression home economics which will apply chiefly 
to the education of females. 

Dual responsibility in home-making. However, there is a 
dual responsibility in home-making. We have recently been 
emphasizing woman's need of knowledge of municipal and civic 
affairs as the clamor for suffrage increased. Similarly it is time 
that phases of home-making should be made systematically a 
part of the education of boys and men. Andrews shows that ad- 
vance has been made in the teaching of certain phases of home 
economics to boys. (41) An increase of man's efficiency in the 
home, together with a revival of the best sentiments of chivalry 
are specific aims worthy of a definite place in a boy's education. 

Home Economics: Household Arts Education 

(a) Definition. Household arts education can be made a 
large factor in the training of practically all girls. "Household 
arts education includes all those forms of instruction and train- 
ing based upon the occupations of the home or household, and 
which are designed to promote higher standards of appreciation 
and utilization in the field of activities associated with home- 
making, to promote right conceptions of the social importance 
of the home as a nursery of childhood and a haven for the wage- 
earners of the family, and to show wherein the various arts and 
sciences have practical application in domestic life. Hence 
household arts education can be made a large factor in the 
liberal education of womanhood." (43) 

In some respects there are sharp differences of aims and of 
methods between household arts as a part of general education, 
and vocational home-making courses. Snedden fears that 
"So great a fund of sentiment and vague aspiration has recently 
been accumulated in connection with all actual or proposed edu- 
cational procedures based upon the activities of the home, that 
there are now thousands of people with the best intentions who 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 363 

are greatly in danger of being induced to take the shadow for 
the substance in home-making. On the other hand, there are 
hundreds of others, at least, who see competent home-making 
made possible only on condition of the mastery of a bewildering 
mass of technical knowledge, such as would prove impracticable 
even for a specialist, let alone the hurried little woman who, 
typically, must maintain a home and in it provide for the rearing 
of four or five children and the harboring of the wage-earners of 
the family." (12) 

The expression household arts is growing in use especially in 
public schools to denote home economics courses both in the 
elementary and in the high schools. The National Society for 
the Promotion of Industrial Education favored the use of the 
term to denote those courses which resemble vocational home- 
making courses but which belong more properly to the field of 
general education. Such courses in household arts may make 
contributions of a definitely practical nature, but for the major- 
ity of pupils they function simply as enlargement of experience 
and improvenent of capacity for wise utilization. (12) 

(b) In elementary and high schools. The aim of teaching home 
economics in the elementary schools is to promote the best 
family and home life as a foundation of democracy. It is in the 
elementary schools, before the majority of pupils quit the schools, 
that this fundamental work must be done. In the elementary 
grades the girl must be taught the principles of healthful living 
for herself, her family, and her community, and the relations of 
health to individual and social well-being. Right convictions 
and attitudes of mind can be cultivated regarding the relation 
of the good home to economic, social, aesthetic, scientific, and 
religious problems. The girl must also be trained to do as well 
as to know why. Cooking in test tubes may be fitting for re- 
searchers in universities, and the making of pretty little things 
which are useless may be amusing, — but such tasks are nonpro- 
ductive and out of place as a rule in elementary and high schools. 



364 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

The suggestions of Misses Cooley, Winchell, Spoiir and 
Marshall (10) for household arts in elementary grades, include 
work in home economics for grades one to six. They hold that 
the work may be taught by the grade teacher under the super- 
vision or advice of the industrial arts supervisor. E. g., a study 
of food, clothing, and shelter may be given a place in the first 
six grades. In well-organized household arts courses for the 
elementary school there must always be actual participation 
in some of the processes in order to give appreciation of the 
labor involved and a de'gree of skill commensurate with the 
ability of the child, and the work should be related with other 
school subjects. Household arts, or home economics, will ap- 
pear as a separate study for the first time in the seventh grade, 
or in the first year of the junior high school. The actual content 
will vary according to local conditions, organization of school, 
and aims. The above writers are opposed to limiting the house- 
hold arts work too strictly, e. g., merely to a few of the home 
activities, such as cooking and sewing, in the seventh and eighth 
grades, or in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades of the junior 
high school. They would include subject matter and processes 
commensurate with the junior high school girls' ability to per- 
form and appreciate. Definite suggestions given by them for 
organization include : 

Upper grades (seventh and eighth) and junior high school (years 
seventh, eighth, and ninth) — 

(o) Food in relation to its production, selection, cost, care, prepara- 
tion, and service. (Special emphasis on conservation under 
present conditions.) 

(6) Clothing in relation to its cost and selection from the stand- 
point of hygiene and personal appearance; its care and re- 
pair; garment construction with as much of textile study as 
the problem in hand warrants. 

(c) Shelter in relation to its cost, the choice of its furnisliing, and care. 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 365 

(d) The family, — the relation of its members to each other and to 
the community; division of income; budgets; care of individual 
members. 

Senior cycle (years tenth, eleventh, twelfth). The work in this 
cycle will be more intensive along given lines and will also afford op- 
portunity for broader development in the entire field. The work will 
be organized into smaller units of subject matter and will center around 
some specific idea or activity such as: cooking; sewing and dressmaking; 
dietetics; home nursing and first aid; home management; home fur- 
nishings; care of infants and children; laundering; millinery; textiles; 
costume design, etc. 

It will readily be seen that should the 8-4 plan of organization main- 
tain, an arrangement of subject matter on the same basis could be de- 
veloped. (10) 

(c) In rural schools. The progress of rural education has 
developed a beneficial tendency to adapt elementary household 
arts instruction to local conditions. The Department of Agri- 
culture at Washington publishes many helpful farm bulletins. 
Under the auspices of the United States Bureau of Education, 
Miss Lyford has worked out in considerable detail three con- 
structive courses in home-making, courses prepared especially 
for use in the elementary rural schools, which may prove to be 
a boon to many a teacher and superintendent. A much abbre- 
viated outline of the contents of her illustrated report is as 
follows. Her lessons for each topic are explained in detail, with 
illustrations, in the original report, which is obtainable from 
the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C.(25) 

A. Twenty seven selected references for a home economics library 
for the rural school. 

B. Twenty lessons in the care of the home for rural schools. E. g. 
(1) Arrangement and care of the kitchen, (2) care of cupboards and 
utensils, (3) care of food, (4) disposal of waste, (5) making soap, (6) 
setting the table, (7) waiting on table, (8) and (9) cleaning of a room, 



366 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

(10) care of bed room, (11) care of lamps, (12) prevention of pests, 
(13) removing stains, bleaching fabrics, and setting colors; (14) wash- 
ing dish towels, school curtains, etc.; (15) ironing; (16) and (17) care 
of the baby; (18) cost of food, clothing, and home; (19) how to keep 
accounts; (20) care of the exterior of the house. 

C. Twenty lessons in cooking for rural schools: (1) Discussion of 
foods and cooking, (2) preparing and serving vegetables, (3) values 
of carbohydrates, (4) fruits and vegetables, (5) fats and oils, (6) cereals, 
(7) classification of foods, (8) planning and serving of meals, (9) milk, 
(10) soups, (11) eggs, (12) simple desserts, (13) batters, (14) do, (15) 
meat, (16) baked pork and beans, or baked cowpeas, — corn-dodgers, 
(17) batter cakes — plain yellow cake, cocoa, coffee, tea, (18) yeast 
bread, (19) serving a simple dinner without meat — baked omelet, 
marcaroni and cheese, (20) sugar. 

D. Twenty lessons in sewing for the rural schools: (1) Preparation 
for sewing, (2) and (3) hemming towels, (4) to (8) bags, (9) darning 
stockings, (10) patching, (11) to (16) cutting out aprons or undergar- 
ments, (17) and (18) methods of fastening garments, (19) padded 
holder for handling hot dishes, (20) cap to wear with cooking apron. 

(d) In evening schools. Groups in marked contrast to the 
girls taught in rural schools are the throngs of working girls and 
M'omen in our cities. For these latter, evening courses in house- 
hold arts are conducted in many cities. Often they are led to 
attend evening classes in order to learn "how to supply their 
personal needs in relation to food, clothing, and right living, 
rather than for the definite purpose of preparing for, or increas- 
ing their efficiency in, their vocations." For the sake of expedi- 
ency the courses for such students are classified separately from 
those having a clear-cut vocational aim. Unavoidably such 
household arts courses show overlapping with vocational home- 
making courses, and with trade-extension courses. It is grati- 
fying that many young women attending the household arts 
courses in evening schools "find in them the inspiration for 
more than incidental study, or acquire something more than 
the new dress which furnished the original incentive." 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 367 

Attention is directed to tiiese practical points concerning 
evening courses in household arts: (12) (30) 

A. Teachers of such household arts courses must have had experi- 
ence in the branches they are to teach. 

B. Equipment is an important item. It is doubtful if the best re- 
sults in accomplishment and initiative can be secured unless the home- 
unit of equipment is provided, in addition to the equipment of labora- 
tory type for cooking, sewing, and millinery. The Massachusetts 
State Board of Education has recommended the following equipment 
for household arts education in evening courses. 

Sewing and Dressmaking Equipment (Minimum) 

Group of 20 persons; average attendance, 15. 

1. There should be comfortable chairs. 

2. Thirty feet of cutting space at least (5 tables 4 by 6 feet, or the 
equivalent) . 

3. One sewing machine to 5 persons,^ — 3 machines. 

4. One flatiron. 

5. One ironing board. 

6. Good lighting. (The light should be direct and within 1 to 2 
feet of the work; 1 Hght for every 4 feet of table space.) 

Millinery and Embroidery 

1. Comfortable chairs. 

2. Three tables, standard size, 3 by 6 feet, or equivalent. 

3. Good lighting. (The light should be direct and within 1 to 2 feet 
of the work; 1 light for every 4 feet of table space.) 

4. Iron and ironing board; facilities for steaming materials. In the 
case of embroidery it is an advantage to have facilities for stamping and 
laundering. 

Cooking 

1. Gas or coal ranges. Unless supplemented by individual gas 
stoves, which are not recommended, but which are found in most school 
buildings, one coal stove and two gas ranges should be provided. There 
should be at least two full-sized ranges, whether there are individual 
burners or not. 



368 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

2. Utensils should be family size. 

3. Work tables of a size and number to give sufficient room for in- 
dependent work, — 30 feet at least. 

4. Good lighting. 

C. Homogeneous grouping is desirable. Informal methods of "try- 
ing out" of pupils may be necessary. To some extent pupils will 
group themselves according to choice. Pupils are not easily classified, 
whether the criteria of occupations, home duties, interests, or abilities, 
be used. The size of the class should be limited, say to 15 for one 
teacher or to 25 for one teacher and an assistant. Painstaking regis- 
tration will obviate numerous difficulties, especially if made one week 
before the classes are to begin, and if supplemented by personal inter- 
view. 

D. "The product in household arts should closely approximate 
acceptable product of the home in cookery and commercial product in 
garment making and dressmaking." It is usually for personal use and 
made from materials furnished by pupils. 

E. Advisory committees serve a useful purpose, when well chosen. 
Interest and advice of successful housekeepers and mothers with the 
right attitude may add zest and reality to the work. 

F. Short-unit courses are highly desirable for household art instruc- 
tion. "Women who work as wage earners from eight to ten hours a 
day find it difficult to attend evening classes during the long term of 
thirty to sixty or more evenings. The wage-earning occupation fre- 
quently makes unusually heavy demands during rush seasons. At- 
tendance upon classes during these times is interrupted, and frequently 
the course is given up because of the delay in class work which results 
from the interrupted attendance. The short courses give pupils who 
could not attend a long term the privilege of completing one problem 
with a fair degree of satisfaction. Another course may be taken after 
an interval if interruption is necessary. By this plan the needs of a 
number of groups may be served." (ibid.) 

The Massachusetts Board has made available concrete sug- 
gestions for two types of short unit courses in household arts 
for evening schools : 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 369 

1. The non-progressive plan. Each course is a unit in itself and 
should be organized at any time that there is sufficient demand. 

2. Progressive unit courses. A continuous series of unit courses, — 
never repeating a course, but passing on from one to another in a pro- 
gressive series. Members may pass from course to course, or drop out 
at the end of one course. This is possible when each course is an en- 
tity and the courses also are progressively related. (30). 

The National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Educa- 
tion has also drawn up suggestions for various types of house- 
hold arts courses suitable for evening classes. The list is seen 
below. Each item admits of further subdivision, and the list 
as printed is not intended as an outlined course of study. (12) 

Dressmaking and Garment Making: Making of plain undergar- 
ments (plain sewing for beginners). Making of lingerie, hand sewing 
and machine sewing. Plain shirt waists. Fancy shirt waists of lingerie 
fabric or silk. Plain skirts. One-piece dresses of cotton or linen (tail- 
ored or semi-tailored). One-piece dresses of wool or silk fabric. Use 
of commercial patterns for garment making and dressmaking. The 
business woman's outfit, — ^what she should wear and what she should 
avoid. Cleansing and renovating clothing. Remodeling and altering 
dresses, waists, and skirts. 

Millinery: Renovating and remaking last season's hats. Planning, 
making, and trimming of hats. Making of fancy trimmings and ribbon 
bows. 

The Personal Budget. How to spend and how to save. Apportion- 
ment of earnings for living, clothing, car-fare, the noon meal, recrea- 
tion, church and philanthropy, gifts, summer vacation, insurance and 
savings. 

Cookery: Nutritive value of foods. Canning and preserving. Prep- 
aration and serving of the evening meal by the class which has come 
direct to the school from the factory, the store, or the office. Practical 
cookery by special courses. Breads, — ^yeast-raised rolls, muffins, and 
biscuits, yeast-raised breads. Preparation of meats, meat substi- 
tutes, and left-overs. Vegetables, — preparation, cooking, and serving. 
Salads. Practical work in planning menus. Cost of foods in con- 



370 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

nection with each of the courses mentioned above. Desserts, — cus- 
tards, hot desserts, frozen desserts, cakes. How to choose the noon- 
day lunch and how much to pay for it. 

Home Economics Education: Vocational Home-making 

Courses 

(a) Definition. "Vocational homemaking education includes 
those forms of vocational education the direct object of which 
is to fit for home-making as practiced by the wife and mother 
in the home, and also for some specialized forms as practiced by 
household employees, housekeepers, and other wage-earning 
assistants to the homemaker."(43) 

Vocational homemaking courses appeal to the following 
groups of pupils: 

1. Girls who remain at home. 

2. Women who expect to marry. 

3. Mothers and housewives. 

4. Young women preparing to be specialists in the manage- 
ment of institutions, hospitals, etc. 

5. Paid employees of the household. 

It is probable that from 60 to 80 per cent of all women even- 
tually become home-makers. Thousands of women from 16 to 
25 years of age spend years in wage-earning pursuits, after which 
they enter into home-making as a career to be followed for many 
years or for life. Household arts as described above evidently 
can be made a valuable feature of the general education of all 
girls. Vocational education for home-making aims to produce 
forms of power for the wife and mother living under normal 
family relations as well as for trained workers in homes and insti- 
tutions. Vocational home-making courses should not be limited 
to home-makers, professional housekeepers, or maids whose 
work may be one or more phases of home-making. In order 
to avoid confusion, however, a distinction should be maintained 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 371 

between those who are trade-workers during the day, and those 
who are home-makers. All girls and women who desire instruc- 
tion in the activities of the home should be offered somewhere 
opportunity to take modern home-makimg courses. (12) 

(b) The phases of home-making. Analysis of home functions 
as they may be shared by mother and father is a useful kind 
of study. Other analyses have been written from the point 
of view of the vocational home-making courses to be offered. 
Memoranda for such courses may be obtained from the Chil- 
dren's Bureau of the U. S. Department of Labor, from the U. S. 
Department of Agriculture, and from the National Society for 
the Promotion of Industrial Education. In the following out- 
lines the items named admit of many subdivisions but even in 
abbreviated form exhibit the wide scope of organized courses 
for vocational home-making. 

LIST OF VOCATIONAL HOME-MAKING COURSES 

1. Foods: Purchase and care of foods. Preparation of three home 
meals. Serving of meals. Preparation of the school or the dinner pail 
luncheon. Food for infants, growing children, and aged people. Nu- 
tritive value of foods. Invalid cookery. Use of meat substitutes and 
left-overs. Canning and preserving. Planning of menus. Special 
courses in types of foods as meats, bread, vegetables, salads, desserts, 
and the like. Use of the fireless cooker. Pure food legislation. 

2. Care of the House: Simple methods of cleaning wood, metal, china, 
glass. Use of disinfectants, deodorants, and exterminators. Cleansing 
of pipes, traps, drains. Care of refrigerator. Cleaning the cellar. 
Cleaning furnished rooms. Labor saving devices and equipment. 

3. Health: Personal hygiene. Care of infants and children. Home- 
nursing. First aid to the injured. Food and clothing in their relation 
to health. Municipal health regulations. 

4. Clothing: How to choose underwear, — what to buy, — ^what not to 
buy. Purchase of ready to wear clothing. Making of infants' and chil- 
dren's clothing. Making of shirt waists, skirts, and house dresses. 
Use of commercial patterns for garment making and dressmaking. 



372 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Mending and remodeling. Renovating and cleansing of clothing. 
Laundering. Millinery, — renovating and remaking hats, — making 
and trimming hats. 

5. House Planning and Household Decorcdion: Arrangement of the 
house for comfort and efficiency. Arrangement of a convenient kitchen. 
Selection and arrangement of furniture for the living room, dining 
room, and bed rooms with reference to comfort and attractiveness and 
to economy of time in its care. Draperies. Wall finishes. Floor cover- 
ings and finishes. Renovation of household furnishings. 

6. Budget: The budget, — personal expenses. The family budget. 
How to plan and keep expenditures within the household budget. 
Household accounting. Teaching children the value and use of money. 

7. Household Management. Scheduling the work of the household. 
Division of labor and directing others, — the children of the family who 
must learn to work and to take responsibility. Directing household 
employees. Short cuts to be used in the household work. (ibid). 

(c) Part-time courses for housewives. While it is undesirable 
to commercialize the household, many housewives desire to 
compete with industry in the sense that they wish to produce 
dresses or clothing of as good style as and by efficient methods 
comparing favorably with those of the tailor or store. Millinery 
made at home must also compete with trade standards. Much 
has been learned of value to the housekeeper from the experience 
of efficiency methods in laundries, in tea room and cafeteria 
service, and in the business of budget-making. 

Part-time courses for housewives should be unit-courses. The 
experience of Massachusetts shows that in the classes for house- 
wives, attendance for a school year of twenty weeks is un- 
certain, and that the mortality of such classes is great. (30) 
Miss Murtland has explained how part-time courses chiefly in 
the day time, may reach three well defined groups: (1) the 
girls who remain in the home and assist in the household duties — 
girls who do not become wage-earners outside of the home; (2) 
girls who become wage-earners and are removed from any but 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 373 

incidental participation in household work, which under right 
conditions furnishes the best kind of training; and (3) women 
engaged as home-makers— the wives and mothers. (34) 

Industrial and Trade-Extension Schools for Women 

(a) All-day trades school for girls. Vocational industrial 
courses for girls may be conducted as departments in high 
schools, or in a separate girls' school. The Manhattan Trades 
School for Girls in New York City has been foremost of the type 
of school that trains girls to be self-supporting as quickly as 
possible. For our present purpose it suffices to call attention 
to it as one concrete example of schools such as the Boston 
Trades School for Girls, the Worcester Trades School for Girls, 
the Hirsch School, etc. It was originally started as a philan- 
thropic institution but has been taken over by the New York 
City school system. Any girl between the ages of 14 and 17 
who desires trade education may be admitted upon graduation 
from a grammar school or upon examination by the principal, 
and upon specific recommendation of the head of the school 
last attended. The courses are practically all short-time or 
unit courses. The popularity of the school has caused recently 
an excess of applications far in advance of the capacity of the 
school. The report for the year ending July 31, 1916 shows 
these data : 

Average enrollment 722 girls 

Average attendance 632 

Girls in different departments: 

Dressmaking 491 

Millinery, lamp shades and fancy feather making 70 

Sample mounting and French novelties 54 

Garment operating 65 

Straw hat operating 19 

Embroidery operating 18 

Kid glove operating 5 



374 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

The Manhattan School offers all-day courses, trade-extension, 
and part-time courses, and also evening sessions in drafting 
and pattern cutting, waist and skirt draping, straw hat oper- 
ating, garment operating, operating on hemstitching machines, 
on embroidery machines, and on scalloping and tucking ma- 
chines, etc. (28) 

(b) Information Needed. In the establishment of vocational 
industrial courses for girls and women, more than usual care is 
demanded. Adequate preliminary information concerning the 
nature of the occupations to be articulated with the school is 
needed. C. A. Prosser in connection with the Worcester study 
preparatory to a trade school for girls, emphasized the value of 
information of these kinds: (1) Concerning the great army of 
young girls who go out to employment as soon as they have 
passed beyond the reach of the compulsory law; (2) the number 
of girls and women who are employed in undesirable industries; 
(3) the lack of opportunity for advancement and better wage 
earning which confronts the average female wage worker; (4) the 
low intellectual status and ideals of the typical factory girl; (5) 
the kinds of industries which retarded and backward girl pupils 
enter; (6) the instability of female as well as male workers in 
many industries; (7) the fluctuating character of their employ- 
ment; and (8) the low wage which most of them are able to earn. 

(c) Trade-extensio7i courses. The Report on Vocational Sec- 
ondary Education prepared by the Committee of the National 
Education Association contains this definition: "The extension 
evening vocational school is a school in which a young person 
already employed in some occupation receives, during evening 
hours, vocational education in subjects closely correlated with 
the work which he follows during the day, and calculated to 
assist him toward greater efficiency or more advanced work in 
that calling." (43) 

Extension trade teaching is designed to give a worker already 
employed more and more skill and knowledge related to his 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 375 

or her vocation, and thus to facilitate promotion. Low wages 
are in part due to low skill and inefficiency. It is not enough 
to give a young worker compelled to enter industry a good 
start; to supplement early training and to facilitate progress 
is a worthy object. Doubtless long after the World War we 
will encounter the problem of assimilating thousands of un- 
trained women who will enter this country to compete with our 
present women workers. The necessity of meeting this com- 
petition is an added incentive to multiply our trade extension 
classes for women. Such classes will help to meet the needs of 
these groups: (1) Untrained and unskilled workers, e. g., errand 
girls, sewers on hooks and eyes, girls who run ribbons in gar- 
ments, helpers in various factories. There are many capable 
women who have entered industry without any vocational 
preparation. (2) Workei^s who already have had training in a 
vocational school. Graduates of the Boston Trade School for 
Girls and of the Manhattan Trade School often have returned 
for evening trade-extension courses. 

The National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Educa- 
tion which issued a helpful bulletin of practical directions for 
the conduct of trade extension courses for girls and women, 
advised as follows: 

Trade-extension courses should be given for all occupations in which 
numbers of girls and women commonly find emplo3rtnent. The courses 
may be grouped as follows into (A) those which deal with the practice 
and technic of the trade; and (B) those which deal with related knowl- 
edge. 

A. Courses in the practice and technic of the trade should include: 
1. Custom Sewing Trades: Dressmaking. Children's clothing. Drap- 
ing. Drafting, cutting, and fitting. Designing for trimmings. Cos- 
tume design. Lingerie. 2. Millinery: Preparing and making. Trim- 
ming and copying. Designing. 3. Factory Garment Making: Muslin 
underwear. Cotton dresses and waists. Silk and chiffon dresses and 
waists. Special machine operating such as: Buttonholing, Scalloping, 



376 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Hemstitching, Tucking, Embroidering. 4. Straw-sewing, 5. Corset- 
making. 6. Glove-making. 7. Cookery, Cooking for lunch room, 
tea room, or cafeteria. Fancy cookery for food shops. Catering for 
special occasions. Preserving and canning. Dietetics and sick room 
cookery — a trade-extension course for nurses. Fundamentals of cook- 
ery. 8. Table service and waitress work. 9. Care of the Home and 
the House. House wifery. Cleaning processes. 10. Laundry work. 

B. Courses dealing with related knowledge designed to supplement 
courses in practice and technic of the trade should include: 1. Arith- 
metic related to the daily occupation. This, in some instances, is 
ordinary business arithmetic; in others, it is the application of arith- 
metic to special trade problems. 2. Science as related to the trade. 
3. Art as related to the trade. 4. Spelling and business English. 5. 
Textiles as related to specific occupations. These courses may again 
be subdivided to meet the needs and aims of particular groups of 
pupils. (12). 

Applications of the Smith-Hughes Act 

(a) No sex distinctions. In the text of the Smith-Hughes Act 
no reference was made to sex. The privileges extended in agri- 
culture and in trade and in industrial education apply in prin- 
ciple equally to males and to females. Special reference, how- 
ever, was made in the text of the Act, although not in the Title, 
to home economics, a field that is almost entirely woman's. 

(b) Half-time instruction for practical work. Section 11 of the 
Act provided as follows: 

"... That such schools or classes giving instruction to persons 
who have not entered upon emploj^ment shall require that at least 
half of the time of such instruction be given to practical work on a use- 
ful or productive basis, such instruction to extend over not less than 
nine months per j'ear and not less than thirty hours per week." (Sec. 

11.) 

"... That for cities and towns of less than 25,000 population, ac- 
cording to the last preceding United States census, the State board, 
with the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 377 

may modify the conditions as to the length of course and hours of in- 
struction per week for schools and classes giving instruction to those 
who have not entered upon emplojonent, in order to meet the particular 
needs of such cities and towns." (Sec. 11.) 

(c) Evening schools to be supplemental. The important Sec- 
tion 11 of the Act also provided: 

"... That evening industrial schools shall fix the age of 16 years 
as a minimum entrance requirement and shall confine instruction to 
that which is supplemental to the daily employment; . . ." 

The interpretations of the Federal Board gave broad applica- 
tion to these provisions. They admit to evening classes both 
girls and women in industry and in the home. E. g. : "The 
evening school instruction must be given to those whose work 
is such that the skill or knowledge taught helps the worker in 
her present-day employment to greater efficiency, better wages, 
or promotion. This will admit to such classes those who are 
engaged to any extent or in any way in the performance of 
household duties." 

(d) Interpretations tentative. The Federal Board while issuing 
during its first year of organization a "statement of policies" 
did so with the reservation that such statement was "prelimi- 
nary and tentative." The various interpretations, some of 
which we have cited in preceding chapters, will be of some his- 
torical interest as indicating the initial tendencies in the admin- 
istration of the Act, whatever may be subsequent modifications. 
The reader should consult the published reports of the Board 
for detailed and later statements of policies and interpretations. 

Other Vocational Education of Women 

Leake's book. Since the preceding lines were written the 
writer has seen for the first time Leake's valuable book on the 
vocational education of women. (24) Leake's practical discus- 



378 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

sion of education for the home and of women in industry outside 
of the home, at present renders superfluous a more extended 
presentation in these pages of this twofold problem. 

Professional training. It is not within the scope of our 
present study to consider the question of the professional educa- 
tion of women. In our country, in gratifying distinction from 
Gei'many, women have for years been given widest opportunity 
for study in our State Universities, and in endowed institutions. 
While the relative numbers of women engaged in law, the minis- 
try, and medicine are small, the numbers are increasing. Other 
professions are being taken up by women, with the enlargement 
of social needs and opportunity, e. g., teaching, secretaryship, 
librarianship, dietetics, institutional management, authorship, 
social work, nursing, art, music, research. In the field of buy- 
ing and selling, — commerce, especially in the department store, 
women are finding many varieties of employment. Vocational 
training in the modem department store is an interesting topic 
to which we refer in another chapter. 

The woman over forty. What shall the well-to-do woman 
over forty who has reared a family do? What shall the hard- 
worked wage-earning woman over forty do, when the incessant 
grind of machinery or of typewriter, or of teaching, has begun 
to cause deterioration of body and of hope? What shall the 
woman over forty do, who, untrained for any service, suddenly 
finds herself forced to earn a living? The World War has caused 
this cry to rise from a million women in our own country and 
abroad. Indeed, during the absence of the soldiers it very 
quickly arose in the lives of thousands of women over forty. 
The editor of a metropolitan daily thus illustrates the problem : 

When she was a girl she was given, as a rule, no training in productiv- 
ity, but she could earn her keep, nevertheless, as a salesgirl or in a fac- 
tory. She married, and for years she has worked hard, but still with- 
out training. Her husband is dead or incapacitated, and the sons she 
had depended on have enlisted. Now, helpless outside a house, she 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 379 

faces want. She may be foreign or American, from any one of a half 
dozen different strata of society, gently bred or used to scrubbing, 
but she has the one common characteristic — she is just as untrained as 
she ever was, and she has lost the great asset of youth. 

All the talk about her is unconstructive. One constructive sugges- 
tion has been made, it is true, many times. She may go into domestic 
service. She does know cleaning and cooking, as a rule, in a sort of 
rough family fashion — sometimes even thoroughly. But hers are not 
the traditions of domestic service except in her own kitchen. She is 
not used to the feel of it. And, on the other hand, she is too set in 
her ways to be malleable by a mistress. She lacks trigness as a maid 
and teachability as a cook. 

Has war been needed to teach us that her lack of training has been 
a wicked thing? No fault of hers; tradition has been against her there 
also. But why should a woman who marries be regarded as having 
dropped out of the ranks? You see the result in college women as well 
as in women who never saw the inside paneling of a high school door. 
The college wife petrifies in thousands of cases; her mind gets closed to 
new ideas, and her power to acquire even information leaves her. And 
so the country loses what a democracy requires above all things — ■ 
plasticity in its citizenship. Her husband continues for many years 
to grow in possibilities; he is capital drawing interest. She is just a 
note, a promise to pay never redeemed, and by and by she becomes 
outlawed and uncollectible. 

Every daughter, rich or poor, from now on ought to be trained if 
possible before marriage and taught to keep on at her training, so far as 
circumstances permit, after marriage. We shall have a world safe for 
democracy when the war is over, but not safe for the uneducated. The 
international economic struggle is not going to be child's play or un- 
directed mass-inertia. A propaganda of education for the married 
woman is needed, and meanwhile a clear recognition of our tremendous 
economic error, and community and governmental action to repair 
it as best we may. (47) 

If they who ignored, a generation ago, the demands for ade- 
quate vocational education as a phase of public education, had 
opened their eyes and ears, or had abandoned the fetich of 



380 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

isolated aims of "culture," or "utility," or "discipline," or 
"knowledge," etc., and general bookishness in the education 
of girls and of boys, without an ultimate, higher aim, our democ- 
racy would have been better prepared for the pursuits of peace 
and for the imperative, practical demands of a war for world 
liberty. The helplessness of some women to meet without 
injury the legitimate demands of the home and of industry, is 
perhaps no greater than that of our millions of men who have 
existed only by crude or semi-skilled labor in a land whose 
resources challenge intelligence and skill, and where the rewards 
of intelligent labor are greater than anywhere else in the world. 
Chivalric regard. It is claimed that the entrance of a woman 
into business tends to dissipate something desirable in her at- 
tractive qualities of womanhood. In many instances this has 
been sadly true. However, the effort in itself to earn an honest 
living is promotive of strength and beauty of character — quali- 
ties demonstrable in hardworking women. The daily attitude of 
boys and men is an educative factor for good or bad in women- 
workers. One thing needed is for boys and men in business and 
industry to cherish and practice a little of that old sentiment 
called chivalry. Competition, efficiency, often must ignore sex 
differences and particularly superficial sentiment. But there 
is a sentiment deep and indispensable, the feeling that leads to 
the protection and gentle treatment of mother, sister, wife — and 
all women. When men or women, including misanthropes and 
the unsexed, lose or scorn this best heritage of chivalry, life 
becomes not practical but brutal. 

Summary 

In the present chapter we have arranged our discussion under 
six topics: 

1. Underlying or general principles of the practical education of 
women are derived from the facts of sex differences, the 
relatively early maturity of girls, the question of intellec- 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 381 

tual and physical equality in distinction from the matter of 
difference in the sexes, the inadequacy of some ill-adjusted 
curricula and schools for the needs of women, and the fact 
that women although not engaged in a very wide range of 
industrial and commercial occupations like men, as a rule 
present a more difficult problem of vocational education 
than do men, namely, preparation both for wage-earning 
occupation and also for home-making. 

2. Household arts education, a bulwark of the home, should be 

made a large factor in the education of all women, what- 
ever their station or occupation in life. It is offered ap- 
propriately in elementary, secondary, day and night schools 
as a vital element in the program of universal education. 

3. Vocational home-making courses are not so clearly distinct 

from household arts education as is vocational industrial 
or trade education from industrial arts. They appeal 
to women who expect to marry, girls who remain at 
home, housewives, and also to paid employees and special- 
ists in the management of institutions. 

4. Girls and women in business may increase their occupational 

skill and their wages by attendance upon appropriate 
trade-extension courses, and prospective female workers in 
industry profitably may attend all-day trade schools, as in 
Worcester or New York. 

5. The Smith-Hughes Act opened to girls and women all of the 

privileges offered to boys and men in the matter of agri- 
culture, trade, industrial, and commercial education, and 
in addition opened new avenues of cooperation and fi- 
nancial support in the field of home economics. 

6. Contemporary literature attests the vigorous effort to im- 

prove opportunities for the vocational education of 
woman — a movement mightily stimulated by the remark- 
able activities of women during the World War. New 
problems appear such as, how can occupational provision 



382 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

be made for the self-supporting woman over forty? 
How can we perpetuate the best of that sentiment known 
as true chivalry, in order to preserve industrial competi- 
tion between the sexes and society from brutalizing ten- 
dencies involved in over-pressure for industrial and com- 
mercial efficiency? 

The preceding pages of this book have disclosed more 
unsolved problems than definite solutions for educational 
and industrial troubles. Given a knowledge of the nature, 
significance, and number of the questions — social, educa- 
tional, and occupational, such as we have endeavored to 
present so far, and in their philosophical and historical per- 
spective, the student, perhaps entering for the first time 
upon an attack upon actual, local difficulties in organizing 
and conducting vocational education, needs to learn about 
one other vastly important problem. This problem con- 
cerns the best general 7node of attack, or of study, in order 
to save time, effort, and money in meeting the incessant 
demands for mutual adjustments between industry and 
education. A man armed with such a method and con- 
fronting difficult situations with an open, vigorous mind is 
more valuable to the schools and to industry in the long 
run than a man with a favorite remedy, a fad, or a dog- 
matic formula. The next chapter will present a vital, gen- 
eral procedure in attacking difficulties of adjustment be- 
tween the school, industry, and society as a whole. 

Problems 

1. Explain the two-fold nature of the general problem of the 

education of woman. 

2. Observing distinctions between the literatures of opinion 

and of experiment, we observe what conclusions regard- 
ing sex differences in capacity for work? [See HoUing- 
worth.l 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 383 

3. What do you think of Havelock Ellis' conclusions regarding 

''equality" of the sexes? 

4. Using Baldwin's or Boaz' tables, study differences in curves 

of growth in weight and in height of boys and of girls. 

5. Show that true intellectuality may embrace knowledge and 

skill in home-making. 

6. Describe at least seven functions of the trained home-maker. 

7. Why might some married women or widows with sufficient 

technical training in home economics, make ideal teachers 
of the subject? 

8. Draw up an analysis of functions for practical participation 

by men in home-making. 

9. Distinguish between vocational home-making courses and 

household arts courses. Is the distinction one of intrinsic 
difference, or of expediency? 

10. Study in a small school system all teaching in home econom- 

ics, beginning with the lowest grades. Observe any unnec- 
essary duplications, omissions, additions. Study labora- 
tories, class rooms, equipment, practice cottages or 
apartments; disposition of products; methods of instruc- 
tion; salaries of teachers and supervisors; training of 
teachers both in theory and in practice; programs and 
courses of study; unit courses; part-time, evening, and 
all day schools; supervision of work; general and spe- 
cific aims. 

11. Ascertain from local Association of Commerce, or State De- 

partment of Labor, or from other sources, the numbers 
of women and girls employed in each of the great occupa- 
tional groups in your town or county. Reduce to per- 
centages and compare with Census figures for (a) State 
and (b) the United States. 

12. From standpoints of value to community and to health and 

progress of individuals, what are the most promising occu- 
pations for women in your community and State? 



384 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

13. How may we coordinate household arts education more 

effectively with actual home activities of pupils? Study 
a project system. 

14. At what age of the pupil is it practicable to begin the system- 

atic vocational home-making course ? 

15. Where girls must live in a dormitory, how can educational 

values be obtained best from practical work in house- 
keeping? 

16. Enumerate the special problems of trade-extension even- 

ing courses for women in your city. 

17. How can we interest girls from 14 to 21 years of age, who 

will be wage-earners in industries not relating to the 
home, in vocational home-making courses? 

18. A young woman gifted with a ready memory during her 

college career drifted into household economics and 
graduated. She taught school a short time, and after- 
wards she took graduate courses in universities and 
finally won a doctorate, her thesis being largely a review 
and compilation of library and questionnaire materials, or 
of what others had written about household economics. 
Later, through the influence of friends, she was elected 
professor of household economics in a college or university. 
Never in her life had she fancied the making of a dress, 
the cooking of meals, the business management of a large 
home, or had much to do with children outside of her 
classroom. In her heart, she would have preferred 
happy marriage above all things, but for some reason men 
were not interested in her. Review the strength and the 
weakness of the woman's preparation, from the point of 
view of her students, the institution employing her, and 
the state. Portray the ideal teacher and leader in home 
economics. 

19. A college student who had vacillated between household 

economics and literary courses, finally becoming a dabbler 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 385 

in philosophy, and who dearly loved to be called a "radi- 
cal," was asked if she was still studying home economics. 
She said emphatically, — "No." When asked further 
what she was following, she replied seriously: "Oh, just 
plain intellectuality /" Discuss this type of attitude, and 
explain the probable causes thereof if you can. Or de- 
scribe a case if you know of similar instances. 
20. Show how home economics education, in the sense of prep- 
aration for the best kind of home-making, can be a 
powerful instrument in the perpetuation of American 
Democracy. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Abbott, Edith. Women in Industry. A study in American economic 

history. Employment of women for wages in early and more recent 
times. N. Y., 1910, 409 p., with BibKography. 

2. Administration of Evening Household and Practical Arts Schools. 

(State- Aided Vocational Schools). Massachusetts Board of Educa- 
tion, Boston. Bulletin 24, 1916. A valuable discussion of household 
arts education, vocational education, unit courses, trade extension 
courses, etc. 

3. Andrews, Benjamin R. Education for the Home. 

Part I. Introductory Survey. Equipment for Household Arts. 
Part II. The States and Education for the Home, Rural Schools, 
Elementary Schools, Secondary Schools, Normal Schools, 
Technical Institutions, Various Organizations and 
Agencies. 
Part III. Household Arts in Colleges and Universities. 
Part IV. List of Schools, References. 

U. S. Education Bulletins: Part I, 36, 1914, 53 p. Ill; Part II, 37, 
1914, 203 p. Ill; Part III, 38, 1914, 107 p. Ill; Part IV, 39, 1914, 
42 p., with classified bibliography, and list of towns and cities 
teaching household arts. 

4. Association of Collegiate Alumnae. Vocational Training. A classified 

list of institutions training educated women for occupations other 
than teaching. Bulletin 1, 1913, 137 p. 

5. Aristotle: Politics. I, 11. 324 B. C. (tr. Jowett). 

6. Baldwin, Bird T. Adolescence. A comprehensive study of the litera- 



386 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

ture during two years, and of present views. Psychological Bulletin 

1915, pp. 372-381. 

7. Bevier, Isabel. Dietetic Standards for Various Households. Proc. 

N. E. A., 1912. Pp. 974-982. 

8. Bonser, Frederick G. Cash and Social Values of Household Arts Edu- 

cation. Teacher College Record, January, 1918, 54-56. 

9. Cooley, Anna M. The Training of the Teacher of Household Arts for 

the Vocational School. Proc. Nat. Society for Promotion of In- 
dustrial Education, Bulletin 22, 1916. Pp. 182-195. 

10. Cooley, Anna M. and others. Home Economics Studies in Grades 

Seven to Twelve. Teachers' College Record. March, 1918. Pp. 
119-130. 

11. Ellis, Havelock. Man and Woman. N. Y. A consideration of sex 

differences mainly from the anthropological point of view. 

12. Evening Vocational Courses for Girls and Women. Bulletin 23, 1917. 

National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education. 73 p. 
Common aspects of evening classes; trade extension courses; voca- 
tional home-making courses; household arts and recreational courses; 
record forms. 

13. Federal Board for Vocational Education. Statement of policies, in- 

terpretations, etc., and the text of the Smith-Hughes Act. Bulletin 
1, 1917, 70 p. Washington, D. C. 

14. Hall, G. Stanley. Educational Problems, 2 vols. N. Y., 1911. Vol. I, 

540-710; vol. II, 1-28. 

15. Hedges, Anna C. Vocational Training of Girls in the State of New 

York. Bulletin 612, 1916, 37 p. 

16. Hedges, Anna C. Wage Worth of School Training. An analytical 

study of 600 women workers in textile factories. N. Y., 1915, 173 p. 

17. Hej'mans, Gerardus. Die Psychologic der Frauen. Heidelburg, 1910, 

308 p. 

18. Hickok, Mrs. Harvey M. Business of Home-making. Proc. Minne- 

apolis Meeting Nat. Society for Promotion of Industrial Education 

1916, 485 p. Pp. 187-195 

19. Hill, David S. and Mary L. Railey. Educational Research in Public 

Schools. Board of School Directors, New Orleans, 1915, 211 p. 
Pp. 165-181. Published in superintendent's report and separately. 

20. HoUingworth, H. L. Vocational Psychology. Its Problems and 

Methods. Antecedents and development of modern vocational 
p.sychology. Vocational tests and methods. Study of aptitudes. 
Vocational aptitudes of women by L. S. HoUingworth. N. Y., 1917, 
308 p. 



PRACTICAL EDUCATION OF GIRLS AND WOMEN 387 

21. Household Arts and School Lunches. Alice C. Boughton. The Cleve- 

land Survey. Cleveland, Ohio, 1916, 170 p. 111. 

22. Industrial Education. Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the U. S. Com- 

missioner of Labor. Washington, 1910, 822 p. A compendium of 
industrial education statistics, etc., of that date. 

23. Laselle, Mary A. Vocations for Girls. N. Y., 1913, 139 p. 

24. Leake, A. H. The Vocational Education of Girls and Women. N. Y., 

1918, 404 p. 

25. Lyford, Carrie A. Three Short Courses in Home-making. U. S. Edu- 

cation Bulletin 23, 1917, 104 p. 111. Courses and practical direc- 
tions intended for rural schools. 

26. Population: Occupation Statistics. U. S. Census. Washington, 1910, 

vol. IV, 615 p. 

27. Richmond, Va. Vocational Education Survey. Made with coopera- 

tion of United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States 
Bureau of Education, Russell Sage Foundation, National Society 
for Promotion of Industrial Education, School Board of Richmond, 
State Department of Education, citizens and school men. U. S. 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 162, 1916, 333 p. 

28. Marshall, Florence M. Trade Extension and Part-time courses for 

Girls in New York City. Proc. National Society for Promotion of 
Industrial Education. Bulletin 22, 1917, Pp. 220-225. 

29. Mason, O. T. Woman's Share in Primitive Culture. New York, 1894, 

295 p. 111. 

30. Massachusetts. 

(a) Administration of Evening Household and Practical Arts Schools. 
Bulletin 24, 1916. 

(6) State-Aid Vocational Education in Bulletin 6, 1917. Massa- 
chusetts State Board of Education, Boston. Resume of Ten 
Years' Progress, and statistics of vocational schools. 

31. Mathews, Lois K. Training Women for Social Responsibility. Proc. 

N. E. A., 1914, pp. 40-45. 

32. Methods of Teaching Household Arts. B. R. Andrews. U. S. Educa- 

tion Bulletin 36, 1914, pp. 28-30. 

33. Minneapolis, Minn. Vocational Survey. U. S. Bureau of Labor 

Statistics, Bulletin 199, 1916. 

34. Murtland, Cleo. Part-time Education in Household Arts. The Jour. 

of Home Economics, February, 1917, pp. 51-58. 

35. Park, J. C, and Harlan, C. H. Some Facts Concerning Manual Arts 

and Home-making Subjects in 156 Cities. U. S. Education Bulletin 
32, 1916. 



388 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

36. Paulsen, Friedrich. Introduction to Philosophy (tr. by Thilly) Thilly. 

N. Y., 1895, 437 p. 

37. Problems of Women in Industry. Pp. 417-418. Dutton and Sneddon, 

Administration of Public Education in the United States. N. Y., 
1915, 614 p. 

38. Short-unit Courses for Wage-earners, and a Factory School Experi- 

ment. U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 159, Washington, 
1915, 93 p. 

39. Snedden, David. Education Sociology (syllabus). Part I (38 p.) and 

II (70 p.), N. Y., 1917. 

40. Syllabus of Home Economics. American Home Economics Associa- 

tion. Baltimore, Md., 1913. Contains "authoritative" definition of 
home economics and outline of subject matter. 

41. Terminology in Education for the Home. Benjamin R. Andrews. 

U. S. Education Bulletin 36, 1914, pp. 23-25. 

42. Trade School for Girls. U. S. Education Bulletin 17, 1913, 59 p. A 

preliminary investigation in a typical manufacturing city. Worces- 
ter, Mass. Made by Research Department of Boston Women's 
Educational and Industrial Union. 

43. Vocational Secondary Education. Report of Committee of National 

Education Association. U. S. Education Bulletin 21, 1916. 

44. Vocational Training of Girls in the State of New York. Anna C. 

Hedges. Bulletin, University of the State of New York, Albany, 
N. Y., 612, 1916, 41 p. 111. A discussion of many phases of the 
work in New York State with concrete examples, illustrations, and 
bibliography. Considerable space devoted to prevocational edu- 
cation of girls. 

45. Weeks, Ruth M. The People's School. N. Y., 1912, 207 p. 

46. White, Eva W. What the Evening Schools can do by Means of Trade 

Extension Courses. Proc. Indianapolis Meeting of Nat. Society for 
Promotion of Industrial Education, Bulletin 24, 1917, pp. 209-212. 

47. Woman over Forty — Editorial in Chicago Herald. March 16, 1918. 

48. Woolley, Mary Emma. Preparation of Women for Twentieth Cen- 

tury Life. Proc. N. E. A. 1914, pp. 56-60. 



CHAPTER XII 

USES OF RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND 
INDUSTRY 

Meanings and Values of Research: Scientific method better than debate 
besetting errors; kinds of studies; making research practical. 

Industrial Research: Technical studies; seeking efficiency; selecting pro- 
motional material; tenure and fear; trade tests; making trade tests; oral 
tests; picture tests; performance tests; classification of men; intelligence as a 
factor; occupational analyses; army specifications; English Ministry of 
Labour; U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; other industrial researches. 

Educational Research: Kinds of studies; survey movement; bureaus of 
educational research; varieties of aims; establishing industrial schools. 

The Vocational -Educational Survey: Elements of survey; steps in a com- 
plete vocational-educational survey — (1) preliminary study of community 
background, (2) study of existing industries and occupations, (3) study 
of existing schools, (4) summary and constructive plan; final activities; 
cautious inductions; the two-fold conclusion. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

Meanings and Values of Research 

Scientific method better than debate. Research is to be 
credited with achievements in the fields of chemistry, physics, 
medicine, and invention. Accumulative, cooperative efforts at 
research have resulted in the accelerated progress of science 
during the past fifty years. Only when wrong ideas and aims 
have prostituted science, when high technical skill is united to 
wrong ideals, does human welfare fail of betterment when re- 
search advances. Banishment of ignorance, superstition, dis- 
ease, pain, and fear; control of fire, heat, and electricity — these 
conquests are the results of research. Endowments, founda- 
tions, universities, governments, and states in manifold ways 

389 



390 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

have supported and encouraged research. Its beginnings are 
more remote than Socrates and the end of its enlargement is 
not in sight. It is strange that in the field of pedagogy men have 
been slow to recognize the power of research. We have heard 
much of education as preparation for life, or as an aspect of life, 
nevertheless the schools actually have been remote from life, 
and pedagogues in many instances have meager vision and 
little contact with life beyond the sphere of strictly school or 
university activities. The greater world pulses with the impetus 
that has come from research affecting industry, hygiene, eco- 
nomics. 

Agriculture, trades, industrial operations and processes, 
commerce, home management, and domestic science — undertak- 
ings of general import for wholesome living, present unnumbered 
and unanswered questions that can more profitably be attacked 
by the truth-seeking method of research than by debate, orator- 
ical tournaments, or philosophical speculation. It is sometimes 
necessary in communities given wholly to these latter kinds 
of attack upon difficulties of education to insist upon a laborious 
application of systematic observation, experiment, fact-gather- 
ing, and cautious deduction, in order to proceed practically to the 
right steps in the introduction of industrial education. For the 
purposes of the present chapter it will suffice to indicate the 
essentials of the research method, typical results obtained, and 
some frequently encountered problems which men both in the 
schools and also in industry, who are interested in educational 
reorganization, might analyze by the principles of research. 
Finally, we shall append selected references bearing upon the 
subject. 

Besetting errors. Beginners in educational research are 
prone to rely upon easy, statistical computations or upon the use 
of cjuestionnaires, or upon compilations of the thoughts and 
writings of other workers. This kind of thing also appeals not 
infrequently to students who like sedentary work, attention to 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 391 

clerical details, or burrowing in libraries for second-hand mate- 
rials. Experienced investigators have learned that the procedure 
in studying an industry and its contained occupations for pur- 
poses of education is a distinct undertaking and requires pro- 
longed, firsthand experience in the field. It demands contact 
with industry, establishments, plants, and workers. A standard- 
ized procedure has yet to be developed. It is questionable 
whether there will ever be a "standardized procedure." We 
need men and women trained in scientific methods and imbued 
with zeal for research combined with courage and sanity, who 
can formulate methods of study suited to the difficulty and 
situation. 

With regard to scientific methods in general, as applicable 
in any field of research, the liability of an observer to certain 
errors and fallacies is well known. For example, here are nine : 
(1) Constant errors that come from prejudice, bias of the ob- 
server; (2) constant errors in instruments of precision; (3) va- 
riable errors in observer or instrument; (4) errors of judgment, 
and false perceptions or illusions; (5) general conclusions from 
few instances; (6) careless, vague, or ambiguous use of terms and 
concepts; (7) mechanical manipulation of or literal dependence 
upon statistical devices; (8) writing ''facts" from memory; (9) 
clerical and arithmetical errors. 

Training in scientific method, practice in the solution of 
difficult problems, adequate financial support, and the publica- 
tion of reports with attention to criticism, and work based upon 
character, — these are antidotes to defective educational studies 
made in the name of research. An opportunity exists for uni- 
versities to provide adequate training in the methods of educa- 
tional and industrial research. Critics assert truly enough that 
some of the recent efforts at educational research are of doubt- 
ful scientific validity. Truly crude, also, were pioneer efforts in 
chemistry (the successor of alchemy) and in astronomy (the 
successor of astrology). Educational and industrial research, 



392 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

however, has progressed beyond the primitive state. The 
failure of enthusiastic support by some schoolmen is not merely 
the result of certain weak attempts, but it may be due also to 
failure of critics themselves in defining and evaluating clearly 
the nature and aims of scientific research. 

Kinds of studies. Research is in marked contrast with the 
merely formal study of organized knowledge. In general, 
research is penetration to the frontier of knowledge in one di- 
rection, — and going beyond. There are, however, many types or 
phases of scientific research, and contributions or reports upon 
researches may concern such efforts as these: (1) A new dis- 
covery or invention; (2) disclosure of errors in existing doctrines; 
(3) novel application of an established principle ; (4) verification 
of an accepted belief; (5) description of a new case under an old 
rule; (6) a good hypothesis. 

Making research practical. Naturally arises the question, 
"What is practical?" Caution is needed at this point, both by 
men in industry and by school men. They who from the begin- 
ning demanded the prodical, harassed researchers in chemistry, 
physics, astronomy, or biology. Abundantly practical have been 
the ultimate results of a score of pioneer studies which were of 
only academic interest to our learned ancestors, and even un- 
heard of by contemporary multitudes. What seems purely 
academic, theoretical, or even visionary to one generation or 
individual may be of demonstrable utility to another. To prove 
this, one needs only to trace the manufacture and present eco- 
nomic significance of drugs, pure food-stuffs, anesthetics, dyes, 
metals; or of dyamos, motors, telephones, and wireless, all elec- 
trical devices, the steam engine, specialized factory machines, 
and the aeroplane; or of modern navigation; or of medicine and 
surgery, as well as of scientific agriculture. Philosophers easily 
show the impossibility of limiting rigidly the concept, practical. 
The practical in education is as difficult to define as it is in chem- 
istry or geology. We mean by it generally something that is of 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 393 

immediate use in our mutual betterment. The idea of the prac- 
tical can easily be degraded to that of expediency, or to sub- 
serviency to stronger power for selfish ends. Research about 
occupations and about certain school problems can be of great 
practical use to boards, superintendents, and the people in their 
effort to relate industry and education. 

Industrial Research 

Technical studies. Chemists and physicists as well as 
engineers have transformed the world through the application 
of scientific methods of attack in mastering Nature. Industrial 
processes, transportation systems for water, land, or air, soil 
fertilization, drugs and chemicals, labor saving machines, in- 
ventions, — the steam and the gasoline engines, the telephone, 
the wireless, the typewriter, the dictaphone, paper, and the 
modern printing press, are in most instances the fruitage of tech- 
nical studies by many workers. The history of applied science 
is a lengthy one more significant than the description of wars. 
It is not, however, within the scope of these pages to develop the 
theme. 

Seeking efficiency. The essential meaning of the word 
efficiency is the power to produce desired results, but to-day the 
term is used in different senses. The engineer measures the 
efficiency of an engine in transforming the potential energy of 
coal into kinetic energy. Factory employers strive for efficiency 
in employees, — but with various methods and aims. School 
superintendents are now scoring teachers by means of alleged 
efficiency-scales. 

A labor leader said on one occasion within the hearing of 
the writer: 

"There are too many 'Smart Alecks' calling themselves efficiency 
experts going about pretending to do wonders. They ascertain the 
maximum out-put of a worker, and they devise schemes to keep him 
under pressure to maintain this maximum chiefly for the benefit of the 



394 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

employer. The health, development, and happiness of the employee 
is sacrificed to the ideal of ' efficiency' which means in the long run more 
work and more production from the employee and lower costs and more 
profits to the employer." The basis of truth in this heated statement 
exists in undue speeding-up, highly specialized piece-work, harsh cost- 
record systems, disregard of safety and comfort of workers — conditions 
not hard to find in individual establishments in practically every manu- 
facturing state. The trend of legislation, factory inspection, and the 
humane spirit of cooperation which also exist in many other estab- 
lishments is opposing this type of efficiency. Extortion of strength 
and life from factory workers, boys and girls, men and women, under 
the guise of "efficiency" is about on a par with the practice of a retailer 
described by Mr. Farnham(5). Says he: "A friend of mine once worked 
for a grocer who kept what he called a 'boob register.' The volume 
which had earned itself this dignified pseudonym hung by a string 
behind the counter and contained the names of those women who ex- 
perience had taught the proprietor neither counted the eggs nor 
weighed the sugar. A special clerk known as ' the swindler ' — as my 
friend declared by all that was holy — ^waited on these women and sys- 
tematically short-weighted them, so that the thrifty proprietor in a 
measure recouped himself for the losses occasioned by such other 
customers as found it cheaper to flit than to pay rent." 

Valid uses for the true efficiency-expert abound. Students in 
vocational schools should be made familiar with these uses. 
Enormous is the waste of both physical and human materials 
through the lack of efficiency in some industries. Here are 
typical problems for the man who seeks efficiency in an industry: 

How may waste and by-products be salvaged? 

How may materials be made quickly accessible and how may used 
stock be replaced? 

How may profitless competition be eliminated? 

How may time-killing activities be avoided? 

Due authorization of purchases, quick delivery, economy in clerical 
help and in postage, avoidance of credit-risks — all these are topics for 
efficiency-study. 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 395 

Cost-record keeping in order to predetermine costs, is a work de- 
manding intelligence and skill. 

Increasing the good-will, and lessening the turn-over of labor are 
related and complicated problems. 

Selecting promotional-material. The channels through 
which money goes out of rather than into an establishment are 
these: for plant and materials, for advertising, and for salaries 
and wages of officials and employees. Plants are erected and 
materials are purchased upon the bases of minute specifications. 
The efficacy of advertising devices is often checked up carefully. 
But methods are relatively crude in the matter of selection of 
employees. 

Employment managers supposedly skilled were asked to pass 
judgment upon the prospective values of thirty applicants for 
positions after personal contact with the applicants. Their 
judgments showed serious contradictions in ratings. Bosses 
who had known the same employees for years were asked to rate 
the employees. Here again was found the uncertainty of sub- 
jective tests in judging men. Scott tells of one firm engaging a 
thousand salesmen by the employment manager method. Of 
a thousand engaged but fifteen per cent remain with the firm as 
long as one year. 

Difficulties in selecting promotional material are being at- 
tacked by the research method. Tests are being devised which 
candidates for a position may take, and the scores made upon 
these tests are checked with the subsequent careers of the em- 
ployee in business. Thus through the efforts of Scott, Bingham, 
Whipple, Thorndike, and others to devise tests there is promise 
of a useful system to eliminate some of the loss and disappoint- 
ment which comes from the employment of candidates without 
capacity, intelligence, or skills suited for designated positions. 
The perfection of such devices, however, is a matter of the 
future, as will be seen more clearly in Chapter XIII. 



396 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Tenure and fear. Selection of employees by means of 
"tests" has some unfavorable aspects. No formal psychologi- 
cal or trade test exists which measures loyalty, courage,patience, 
industry, personal appearance. It is a cold-blooded procedure 
to employ men and women mainly upon the basis of a statis- 
tician's score. There is a more favorable side to the question, 
however. Tenure of position to-day, whether in shop, office, 
school, or public position largely demands a measure of fear. 
The slave-driver, the feudal lord, and the despot have lost legal 
or polite standing — but camouflaged they exist and flourish here 
and there in shop, in office, in school, and in public life. Can the 
use of the scientific test be made a step toward security of tenure 
to those who can demonstrate ability? Will it afford assurance 
of promotion to the young man or woman who acquires training 
and exhibits intelligence and skill? Will it expose the incom- 
petent, the parasite, and the sycophant who block the path of 
the meritorious sometimes in unfair competition? 

Trade tests. During the recent organization of the Amer- 
ican Army it was found necessary to devise quick methods of 
ascertaining whether men who claimed to be proficient in trades 
were really experts, journeymen, apprentices, or tyros in the 
skills claimed. It was found in the record of 250,000 soldiers 
trade-tested, that of those professing ability in certain trades, 
30 per cent were inexperienced, 40 per cent were of apprentice 
grade, 24 per cent were journeymen, and 6 per cent were expert. 

Making trade tests. The construction of a test of mechan- 
ical skill and knowledge is a new kind of research. Tests of 
course will vary with the industry and occupation. The Com- 
mittee on Classification of Personnel in the Army followed eight 
steps in the making of a trade test: (19) 

1. Information in detail about the trade is gathered from 
labor unions, employers, trade schools, trade literature. 

2. A list of tentative questions, or a tentative job, embodying 
essential features of the trade is prepared. 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 397 

3. This list of tentative questions, or the job, is tried out on a 
few tradesmen of different trade abilities. 

4. The list, job (or test), is then revised. 

5. The test, as now revised, is tried out on 20 men known to 
be experts, 20 men known to be journeymen, 20 apprentices, and 
20 novices (intelligent adults not trained to the trade). To avoid 
localisms tests are tried out in different cities, Cleveland, New- 
ark, Pittsburgh, New York. 

6. Analyses are made of the answers to the questions, or of 
the jobs, made by the 80 men, in order to determine: 

In which questions, or features of the job, experts do better 
tha.n journeymen, journeymen better than apprentices, appren- 
tices better than novices. 

7. The completed trade test is prepared in duplicate sets, 
and these are sent to various stations in camps, etc. 

8. Pending future improvement of the test, information is 
gathered from the camps and compiled. 

It is claimed that Army trade tests can be given by any 
intelligent man properly instructed; they require no elaborate 
equipment, can be given anywhere and in a short time. Exam- 
ples of kinds of trade tests available for trade schools and for in- 
dustry are such as these, A, B, C:(13) 

(A) Oral tests. Machinist and mechanic — ^general ; machinist- 
tool maker; ship carpenter; electrician-interior wireman, auto 
mechanic — magneto and ignition; welder, cutter — oxy-acety- 
lene operator; leather worker — shoe repairer, cobbler; boiler 
maker; telephone man — telephone repairer, switchboard; sur- 
veyor — general; etc. 

(B) Picture tests. Blacksmith — horseshoer; electrician — lead 
storage battery; leather worker — harness maker; telegraphy 
and wireless operator; machinist — lathe operator; instrument 
maker and repairer of typewriters; etc. 

(C) Performance tests. Structural steel worker — erector; 
chauffeur — truck driver; stenographer and typist; lineman — 



398 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

telephone and telegraph; pipe fitter— steam; carpenter — pat- 
tern maker, wood; electrician — interior wireman; etc. 

Classification of men. It is evident that industry can profit 
by wider adoption of the trade tests. In the Army, however, 
sole reliance was not placed upon the trade tests. For each 
soldier there was kept a qualification card upon which were 
recorded these data : 

Occupation Schooling 

Trade skill Linguistic ability 

Previous experience Mental ability 

Former employer Physical ability 

Nativity Leadership ability 

Citizenship Kind of service preferred 

Intelligence as a factor. A million and a half of men of 
the American Army have taken group "intelligence tests," with 
some remarkably useful results in the practical and quick classi- 
fication of men. There are qualifications in a soldier and in a 
worker in industry not measured by a test of general intelligence. 
Commanders who rated officers for promotion were explicitly 
cautioned that the Army Intelligence Tests (Alpha, Beta, etc.) 
do not measure personal appearance, energy, leadership, tact, 
initiative, etc. Officers were promoted upon the basis of (1) 
physical qualities, (2) intelligence, (3) leadership, (4) personal 
qualities, (5) general value to the service. It is believed, how- 
ever, that general intelligence is commonly found in connection 
with other desirable qualities in men. In another chapter we 
shall endeavor to set forth the important facts about quantita- 
tive "tests of intelligence" and to discuss the nature of general 
intelligence. (See Chapter XIII.) 

Occupational analyses. To study the worker, the man or 
woman, is important for true efficiency in modern industry. 
It is also essential to study each job or position. In vocational- 
educational surveys attention repeatedly has been drawn to the 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 399 

value of minute, first-hand studies of different occupations, with 
a view to their appraisal from the social point of view and to the 
better mutual adjustment of industry and schools. Typical 
studies of this kind are found in the reports of these surveys: 
Richmond, Va.,(18) Indiana,(31) New Orleans, La., (6b) Cleve- 
land, Ohio, (4) Minneapolis, Minn. (11) Special values during 
the readjustments caused by the World War have appeared in 
occupational descriptions. We find elaborate analyses, there- 
fore, being printed by the Army, (29) by the British Ministry of 
Labour, (3) and by the United States Bureau of Labor Statis- 
tics. (30) 

Army specifications. In Chapter VIII special attention was 
called to the "Occupational Index" of the United States Army. 
The Army classification system includes 714 defined occupa- 
tions. Each occupation is denoted by a symbol, which promotes 
accuracy and uniformity upon the part of interviewers and 
classifiers and saves money in telegraphic orders. For each 
trade there is a brief description. 

English Ministry of Labour. An elaborate series of reports 
concerning industrial and trade processes has been issued by the 
British Ministry of Labour. The information is intended for the 
use of pension committees, employment exchanges, technical 
schools and institutes, and military hospitals, and also for the 
use of employers and workpeople and any who are interested in 
the problem of the disabled soldier and sailor. Special attention 
in these reports is devoted to the problems of training for occu- 
pation. The wide range of these valuable reports is indicated by 
the titles of some of those issued during the years 1917 and 
1918: 

No. 1. Attendants at Electricity Sub-Stations. 

No. 2. Employment in Picture Theatres. 

No. 3. Tailoring. 

No. 4. Agricultural Motor Tractor Work in England and Wales. 

No. 5. The Furniture Trade. 



400 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

No. 6. Leather Goods Trade. 

No. 7. Hand-Sewn Boot and Shoe Making and Boot and Shoe Re- 
pairing. 
No, 8. Gold, Silver, Jewelry, and Watch and Clock Jobbing. 
No. 9. Dental Mechanics. 

No. 10. Aircraft Manufacture, Fuselage Making and Erection of En- 
gine on Fusilage. 
No. 11. Wholesale Tailoring. 
No. 12. Boot and Shoe Manufacture. 
No. 13. The Basket Making Trade. 
No. 14. The Building Trade. 
No. 15. Engineering. 

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In a preceding chapter 
(pp. 310) we have indicated how the work of writing descriptions 
and specifications for different commercial positions has been 
undertaken by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
The Bureau has widely extended the work of occupational ana- 
lysis, including in its scope descriptions of occupations in mines 
and mining, in metal working, building and general construction, 
railroad transportation, shipbuilding, slaughtering and meat 
packing, cane-sugar refining, flour milling, medical manufac- 
turing, textiles and clothing, etc. 

A few paragraphs (from the report on logging camps and saw- 
mills) will further illustrate the results of this type of industrial 
research. 

DECK MAN 

Description: The deck man works on the log deck where the logs are 
first brought into the mill by the bull chain. He examines the log, cuts 
out rocks, and guides it to its first position upon the incline to the saw 
carriage. He may also be required to scale or compute the board foot- 
age of the logs. 

Qualifications: The deck man must possess exceptional agility and 
strength. No experience is required except that of handling logs quickly 
and precisely. 

Schooling: Common school; preferably high school. 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 401 

DOGGER 

Description: The dogger adjusts the log into position and clamps down 
the dogs that hold it on the head saw carriage preparatory to sawing. 
He works under the immediate direction of the head sawyer. 

Qualifications: The dogger must be adept in the use of a peavey or 
cant hook. This work requires strength, dexterity, and attentiveness 
to the signals of the sawyer. 

Schooling: Common school; preferably high school. 

SCALER, SAWMILL 

Description: The scaler is employed on the log deck to compute from 
the dimensions of the log the probable board footage that it will make 
when sawed. He usually employs a slide rule especially adapted to this 
purpose. He may be obliged to keep his own records, or may have an 
assistant or tallyman to take down the estimates. 

Qualifications: When accuracy is required, this work demands good 
judgment, a knowledge of timber, and careful measurements. 

Schooling: Common school. 

SETTER (ON SAW CARRIAGE) 

Description: The setter operates the setting mechanism of the head 
saw carriage, moving the saw sideways into such position as desig- 
nated by the head sawyer. This adjustment regulates the thickness of 
the piece to be sawed. Some types of setting mechanisms are operated 
by steam power and others by hand. The position is usuallj'' a pre- 
requisite to that of sawyer. 

Qualifications: The setter usually must have served as dogger before 
becoming a setter. He must have some knowledge of mechanical ap- 
pliances such as he is called upon to operate. 

Schooling: Common school. 

SURVEYOR, GENERAL 

Kindred Occupations: Civil engineer; Instrument man. 

Description: The general surveyor makes surveys in connection with 
water systems, pipe lines, and surveying work of a general nature. 

Qualifications: The general surveyor must be capable of making pre- 
liminary and location surveys, compass surveys, topographical sketches, 
leveling for grades and flows, profile and cross-section surveys, and lay- 



402 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

ing out reservoirs; must be capable of making complete and intelligent 
field notes and plotting them in regular form. He must be thoroughly 
familiar with various types of transits, levels, and compasses and ca- 
pable of making all necessary adjustments. He must be a rapid and 
accurate computor on civil-engineering work, and familiar with the use 
of mathematical tables and engineering data. He should have had gen- 
eral surveying experience in municipal contracting or engineering work. 
Schooling: Technical-school graduate. 

SWAMPER, BUCK 

Description: The buck swamper is the foreman of a stumping or 
swamping crew. 

Qunlifications: The buck swamper must be able to direct the use of 
explosives and to supervise workmen. 

Other industrial researches. Our discussion of industrial 
research have not included sufficient enumeration of suitable 
problems for study, such as these : Labor legislation, prevention 
of industrial accidents and diseases, workmen's compensation, 
business organization, scientific management, wage-scales, 
economic and social questions. A useful topical outline and 
bibliography is available for the student who desires to make 
such studies.(12) 

Educational Research 

Kinds of studies. We have mentioned some industrial and 
occupational problems which are being attacked systematically 
by the method of research. If industry and the schools are to be 
brought into closer articulation or coordination, a first step, as 
well as a continuously needed accompaniment, in educational 
progress, is the application of the sound principles of scientific 
fact-gathering, analysis, and inference to problems in the 
schools. 

There is a fallacy in the assumption that to offer the children 
of a people free elementary education and some knowledge of 
vocational opportunity is entirely sufficient for accurate and 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 403 

healthful adjustment of the masses to occupation, or for the 
right interrelation between activities of the school and of in- 
dustry. We have proceeded a little further than faith in this 
assumption, which, it is true, is a' belief far in advance of easy 
credulity in magic or fate. To bare elementary training and 
its recent elaborations we have added specific, vocational train- 
ing, for acquisition of knowledge and of skill, a training suitable 
for both prospective workers and present workers in industry, 
and one to be outlined after scientific study of the specific 
processes and conditions encountered during these present 
times of new and changing industrial conditions. 

Contrary to inertia and to those tendencies retarding educa- 
tional research, happily there are also contemporary movements 
which mark its rapid advance. It is becoming recognized that 
as industry has improved its processes, products, and efficiency, 
through adoption of research as a guide, so also organized educa- 
tion can profit hugely by reliance upon the method of research in 
the solution of its administrative problems, as well as in aca- 
demic questions. Examples are multiplying of applications of 
the scientific method to the solution of questions about statis- 
tics, child-accounting, exceptional children, measurements of 
school achievement, mental tests, discovery of markedly excep- 
tional children — whether backward or gifted, methods of in- 
struction, economical methods of learning, finance, sanitation, 
and construction of school buildings. (6) The National Society 
for the Study of Education has effectively encouraged the use of 
standards and tests for the measurement of the efficiency of 
schools and school systems. (24) 

Survey movement. Industrial and educational commissions 
have made serious studies for education. More than a hundred 
cities, in greater or less degree, have been subjected to a scientific 
procedure in the study of educational problems, e. g., Richmond, 
Springfield (111.), Portland, Salt Lake City, Butte, Columbia 
(S. C), Indianapolis, New York, San Francisco, New Orleans, 



404 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Cleveland, and Minneapolis. Numerous states also have under- 
gone a similar process, e. g., Ohio, Colorado, Iowa, Arizona, 
South Dakota, Wisconsin, Delaware, Wyoming. In a dozen 
cities there are now permanent provisions for educational re- 
search. The Federal Govermnent has made provisions for re- 
search in many departments and bureaus. The Government 
provides a special fund for the purposes of educational and in- 
dustrial research under the auspices of the Federal Board for 
Vocational Education. 

Bureaus of educational research. The existence of a Na- 
tional Society of Directors of Educational Research is evidence 
of the establishment of numerous bureaus under state, munici- 
pal, or private auspices. Bureaus of educational research of one 
kind or another have been started at the following state uni- 
versities: Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, 
Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Washington. A partial 
list of city bureaus of educational research with the dates of 
estabhshment comprises: New Orleans (1912), Boston (1914), 
Buffalo (1916), Chicago (1917), Cleveland (1916), Detroit (1914) 
Kansas City (1914), Louisville (1914), New York (1913), Oak- 
land (1914), Omaha (1917), Rochester (1912), St. Paul (1917), 
Topeka (1916). (9) The Russell Sage Foundation, the Carnegie 
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and the General 
Education Board have made extensive contributions in the 
field of educational research. 

Varieties of aims. Some of the bureaus do clerical work 
largely and compilation of statistics. One bureau, now practi- 
cally extinct, completed these important kinds of studies for the 
public schools: (1) Industrial survey; (2) measures on large scale 
of achievements of children in arithmetic, spelling, reading; 
(3) individual studies of exceptional children through coordi- 
nated efforts of psychologist, doctors, teachers, and social inves- 
tigator; (4) sociological studies of eliminated pupils; (5) studies 
of delinquent boys from juvenile court; (6) statistical studies. 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 405 

Important is the work of establishing standards of achieve- 
ment in arithmetic, spelHng, reading, geography, grammar, etc. 
Some economy of time and of effort in elementary education is 
being obtained as a result of such work. However, there may 
be over-emphasis upon research in "school subjects" to the 
exclusion of other issues. Scales and tests prepared by such men 
as Ayres, Courtis, Thorndike, Starch, and by others are nearly 
indispensable in good school supervision when used within 
reason. As valuable as may be discriminating measurements 
of school achievement in arithmetic, reading, spelling, etc., the 
truth is, that the relative importance of the results accruing 
from the use of any known devices for such measurements may 
be easily exaggerated. Teachers by misuse or over-emphasis 
of statistics can be diverted unfortunately from a wholesome 
attitude toward their work. Tests on school subjects appeal 
to progressive superintendents, and also appeal to a certain type 
of politically minded, timorous official who does not wish eagerly 
for a rigorous examination of serious matters of administrative 
organization, control, finance, costs, or adjustment of schools to 
industrial and social needs. Studies of arithmetic, reading, and 
spelling sometimes interest both teachers and the public, but 
such tests should not be permitted to divert attention from more 
vital issues, for instance, the matter of equitable salaries for 
teachers, conservation of health, and the effective coordination 
of industry and education. 

Establishing industrial schools. There are educational re- 
searches representing the other extreme. In avowed effort to 
avoid "any attempt to investigate and report on the educational 
systems now in existence" and to avoid "suggestions for the 
modification of such systems, except as to the addition of trade 
instruction for men and women who are going to earn a living by 
a trade," H. L. Smith has written a book entitled "Establishing 
Industrial Schools." It is intended to suggest to states, cities, or 
to any community some concrete methods of determining "what 



406 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

sort of industrial and trade schools it needs, what should be 
taught in them, and how to select and prepare the instructors 
who are to do the teaching." The general outline of the study 
suggested itself to the author some years ago while working in 
the trade schools of Germany. Survey material, minute di- 
rections for field workers in manufacturing and in commerce, 
things to inquire about, suggestions for conferences and reports, 
descriptions of cards, circulars, questionnaires, etc., are set forth 
in organized, useful fashion in this little book. Much of the 
material and of the procedures indicated therein were drawn 
from the Minneapolis Vocational Survey, an undertaking in- 
tended to culminate in action and establishment rather than 
merely in a written report. Smith's study is, for the specific 
purposes intended, a valuable manual, and useful to the school 
man for the first time seeking to establish industrial schools. 

It is a fundamental error, however, not to be tolerated in 
democracy, to assume that we can safely add trade, industrial, 
commercial, or agricultural vocational education — -superimpose 
it upon, or articulate it with, public education, without giving 
careful study and consideration to the nature and needs of ex- 
isting public and private schools and of the local community as 
a part of society. Smith, of course, recognizes this principle and 
directs attention (p. 66) to the necessity of giving consideration 
to "the curriculum of the ordinary public schools . . . ex- 
isting part-time and evening schools, private schools, Y. M. 
C. A. classes, commercial schools, classes conducted in industrial 
plants, and correspondence instruction." (22) 

It is not Utopian to demand in every instance where types of 
schools are to be established — whether general, cultural, or 
vocational in aim, to be paid for by the public, that preliminary 
to such establishment a thoroughgoing study of community 
needs, existing schools, and existing industries should be made 
concurrently. Let us now consider the characteristics of such 
vocational-educational survey in broad outline. 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 407 

The Vocational-Educational Survey 

Elements of survey. C. A. Prosser stresses the value of 
survey work designed to culminate in an actual program for 
vocational education, rather than in a mere portrait of existing 
conditions. (16) Whether the survey be a continuous affair or 
an occasional or one-time effort, in our own opinion there are 
four general groups of elements for study, to be borne in mind 
if a complete view of the problems of coordinating occupation 
and the school is to be attained. These indispensable elements 
concern respectively : (1) The community background ; (2) char- 
acteristics of local industries and occupations; (3) character- 
istics of existing schools; (4) a summary of relevant facts re- 
garding community, industries, and the school, with a resulting 
constructive program for the mutual improvement both of the 
schools and of industries. The four groups of elements may be 
indicated by means of the following outline: 

Steps in a Complete Vocational-Educational Survey 

I. Preliminary and Study of the Community Background 

(a) Securing authorization and support. 

(b) Formulation and announcement of aims. 

(c) Accurate sketch of local geographical, climatic, historical, 

social, and economic characteristics. 

II. Study of Existing Industries and Occupations 

(a) Actuarial accounting in order to ascertain proportions of 
workers engaged in each occupation during periods of 
years. 

Enthusiasm to provide in the schools new shops, elaborate 
equipment, industrial courses, and instructors for a specified vo- 
cational training may ignore the percentage distributions of 
occupations as estimated for the local community or for the 
country at large. A simple statistical accounting of community 
occupations as a preliminary step in the consideration of pros- 



408 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

pective courses would prevent much waste in erection of courses 
not needed and promote courses greatly needed. 

During the Cleveland Survey an actuarial study as a basis 
for industrial education brought out these facts : 

In Cleveland about 3,700 boys leave school each year and go to 
work. They represent various stages of advancement from the fourth 
grade of the elementary school to the fourth grade of the high school. 
They are scattered through more than 100 school buildings. The prob- 
lem of industrial education is to prepare these boys with their differ- 
ing ages, their widely varied school preparation, and their scattered 
geographical distribution to take their places in the work-a-day world. 
They represent every grade of intelligence and every stratum of social 
and economic life. They are scattered in little groups through more 
than 1,000 classrooms. 

Now almost all these boys are of American birth, and it is certain 
that in a few years they will be engaged in doing just about the same 
sorts of work as are now done in Cleveland by adults of American birth. 
Census data show us that among every 100 American-born men in 
Cleveland there are eight who are clerks, seven who are machinists, 
four who are salesmen, three who are carpenters, and so on through the 
list of hundreds of occupations. Even these simple facts at once call 
into question all the standard assumptions about the extension of in- 
dustrial education depending on increasing the number of carpenter 
shops and machine shops in the public schools. Among each 100 Amer- 
ican men only seven are machinists and three are carpenters. Clearly 
then we should not be justified in training all the boys in our public 
schools to enter the machine trade or the carpenter trade when nine 
out of each ten will in all probability engage in entirelj^ different sorts 
of future work. 

Again a study of other similar figures shows that the 10 leading 
occupations include only 41 out of each 100 American-born men. 
Moreover, more than half of these 41 are engaged in mental work 
rather than in manual work. The more such figures are studied, the 
clearer it appears that our conventional ideas about industrial educa- 
tion need critical scrutiny and careful challenge. A beginning in both 
directions has been made in the Cleveland Survey. The results are 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 409 

presented in a summary report entitled "Wage Earning and Educa- 
tion."(4) 

(b) Statistical investigation of establishments and trades in 
order to ascertain the relative importance of industries and 
trades locally and as contrasted with the whole country. 

(c) First-hand studies of typical local establishments or 
trades in leading industries. Study in ludes products, values 
added by manufacture, age, sex, and number of employees, 
hours of labor, sanitary conditions, seasonal nature of employ- 
ment, and a scrutiny of blind-alley jobs. 

(d) An analysis of the departmental and of personnel organi- 
zation for typical large establishments. These analyses are 
usually charted to show the lines of authority and also the lines 
of action or function among the different departments and em- 
ployees. 

(e) Intensive analysis should be made of each tj^'pical, im- 
portant occupation of the community. The occupation may be 
found identical or varied in different establishments. The 
procedure of the Richmond Survey with necessary modifications 
will be found a useful guide in studying an occupation at first 
hand. The Richmond Survey was conducted jointly by the 
U. S. Bureau of Education, the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 
the Russell Sage Foundation, the National Society for the Pro- 
motion of Industrial Education, and the local and the State 
Boards. The points of inquiry were set forth under nineteen 
topics and questions, as follow : 

1. A description of the process, operation, movements, etc., in the 
specific trade or occupation under observation. 

2. Products or specialties. 

3. Importance of trade. 

4. Conditions of employment, (a) involving physical or nervous 
strain, (6) stimulating intelligence and interest, (c) narrowing and re- 



410 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

stricting mental development, (d) affecting welfare of workers, as 
liability to accident, or disease. 

5. Wages: Piece rate, daily average, apprentice, journejnnen, etc. 

6. Hours of labor: Regular, per day, per week; on Saturday. 

7. Seasonal activities: Busy season, slack season, fluctuations. 

8. Extent to which workers are organized. 

9. Entrance age. 

10. Time required to learn operations. 

11. Age of maximum productivity. 

12. Is supply of labor adequate, and cause of any deficiency? 

13. Demand for this labor decreasing, or increasing? 

14. What is the source of supply? 

15. What does a worker need to equip him properly for this trade? 
(a) General education, (b) trade and technical education, (c) manipula- 
tive skill, (d) other requirements, as accuracy, etc. 

16. What does the industry give the worker? (a) Provision for 
systematic instruction of apprentices? (b) Any trade and technical 
knowledge imparted? (c) Manipulative skill? (d) Extent to which 
operations can be learned in the factory? (e) Line of promotion? 

17. Common deficiencies of workers? 

18. What ought school to give prospective worker before he enters 
the shop? 

19. Suggestions from the trade as concerns part-time and evening 
courses? 

(1) What can school give after worker enters shops? 

(a) Of trade and technical knowledge. 
(6) Manipulative skill. 

(2) Nature of continuation courses needed? 

(3) Nature of evening-school course needed? (18) 

If one contrasts the procedures followed in Richmond, in 
Cleveland, in Minneapolis, and in New Orleans, for industrial 
surveys, there will be found points of marked difference in 
procedure from the above analytic process. How far this pro- 
cess is superior to naive assumptions regarding the general 
nature of mechanical occupations, and the needs, is apparent. 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 411 

The above outline exhibits a score of problems inherent in al- 
most every occupation to be studied for education. 

(f) Attitude of organized labor. Cooperation of organized 
labor can usually be obtained for upright movements in public 
education, through conferences with officials and attendance 
upon union meetings. A fair and open policy is necessary in 
obtaining this cooperation and interest. 

(g) Attitude of employers. The same fair policy should be 
practiced with employers and their organizations. Whether in 
dealing with employees or employers it is foolish to depend upon 
the obsolete method of surveying by means of questionnaires 
sent by mail or other long-distance methods. 

(h) Uses of spare time of workers. Emphasis upon the 
necessity of the eight-hour maximum daily working period as 
essential to the welfare of the individual and of society, has not 
been followed by sufficient realization of the social significance 
of the uses of spare time. A complete study, therefore, intended 
eventually to benefit both pupils and industrial workers must 
include conscientious fact-gathering as concerns this problem. 
A community needs to know about the nature and values of: 

(1) Existing public provisions for recreation. 

(2) Existing philanthropic provisions for recreation. 

(3) Existing commercialized recreations. 

(4) Routine of twenty-four hours in the life of workers in 
given occupations. 

III. Study of Existing Schools, Public and Private 

Excellent printed studies of schools and of school systems 
abound. The Summary Volume, for example, of the Cleveland 
Survey, indicates in attractive form, the scope of the modern 
"educational survey." We are advocating in the present out- 
line the joint study both of industries, of occupations, and of 
the schools, with a view to better mutual adjustment to the 
needs of society. With reference to the educational phases of 
such a joint study, or vocational-educational survey, it is nee- 



412 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

essary here merely to tabulate the important points for fact- 
gathering and analysis. The analyses, of course, should include 
valid comparisons with results obtained from other communities 
under similar conditions of investigation. Here are the im- 
portant points: 

(a) Number of schools. 

(b) Organization of the system. 

(c) Control. 

(d) Description of sites. 

(e) Plants and equipment. 

(f) Finance, — income and expenditures. 

(g) Purchasing system, 
(h) Building inspection. 

(i) Supervision of instruction, corps, and methods. 

(j) Selection, tenure, and salaries of teachers. 

(k) Programs and courses of study. 

(1) Text-books, nature, selection, values. 

(m) Enrollment, register, average attendance. 

(n) Elimination, — amount, cards, remedies. 

(o) Age-grade-progress analyses. 

(p) Standard measures of achievement in spelling, reading, writing, 

arithmetic, 
(q) Status of physical education, 
(r) Existing medical inspection, provisions for nurses, clinics, 

lunches, playgrounds, 
(s) Exceptional children, — provisions for discovery, diagnosis, 

educational treatment, 
(t) Vocational schools and classes in actual operation. 

IV. Summary of the Preceding Studies of (/) Community, (II) 
Industries and Occupations, (III) Existing Schools, and a 
Constructive Plan for Development. 

Final activities. If educational research is to be made 
quickly practical there must be more than the mere getting of 
facts. It is not enough to produce a true picture of existing 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 413 

conditions, to be filed away. There are at least four classes of 
related activities, or steps, needful to make educational research 
practical. They are: 

1. The accurate getting of the desired facts by researchers. 

2. The careful consideration of the facts by boards, by super- 
intendents, and by the public. 

3. The prompt publication of the facts upon mutual agree- 
ment of researcher, boards, and superintendents for the benefit 
of the whole people. 

4. Appropriate action where consideration of facts reveals the 
necessity for remedial action. 

Cautious inductions. Even in a small city if the essential 
steps of the fourfold procedure are followed, school men and 
citizens should be helped thereby in the improvement of schools 
as well as of the occupations of the community. The outcome 
should be a definite plan of action, conservative yet certain in 
its ultimate result of maximum use of the schools for the good 
of society as a whole. Such a plan should follow not precede the 
making of an all-embracing vocational-educational survey. In 
too many instances in the past it has been the case that when new 
schools were thought to be needed — first, ground was bought, 
a building erected, teachers and employees hired, and — lastly, 
the courses of study needed were considered. Thus the demands 
both of individual pupils and of the community as a whole, have 
been considered last, rather than first. The procedure must be 
reversed. 

The two-fold conclusion. The final conclusions of the vo- 
cational survey will contain more than mere facts for agitation. 
Definite proposals should be formulated as a result of the voca- 
tional-educational survey, in a constructive spirit looking toward 
effective changes in two directions in order to adjust education 
to the needs of life, viz. : > 

(1) The Schools. With regard to necessary modifications of 
or additions to existing schools. 



414 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

(2) Industries. With regard to necessary modifications of 
existing practices and laws as affecting local industries. 

It is not to be overlooked that while the special, legitimate 
interests of groups are to be equitably conserved, e. g., of 
teachers, of employers, and of employees,— nevertheless the im- 
plications of universal education point directly to the welfare of 
society as our chief end. The schools do not exist merely in 
behalf of the teacher-group; they must not be allowed to serve 
solely for the special advantage of a special group, as employers 
and corporations, or employees and unions. Efficiency and 
material benefit will accrue to all concerned from wise and im- 
partial use of a ballast of facts in navigating many an educa- 
tional shoal. 

One might tabulate an inventory of numerous specific prob- 
lems for educational research that urgently invoke serious 
cooperation of good citizens, whether they be school men, on- 
lookers, or men in industry. In the meantime, sound judgment 
prescribes a firm foundation of facts of many kinds in the execu- 
tion of plans for relating rightly the schools to industry, and 
industry to the schools. Preconceived ideas in places high or 
low, partisan debate and controversy, instead of fair trial, and 
methods of experimentation or observation under controlled 
conditions, ultimately may give large place to the preliminary 
application of scientific methods to the study of the educational 
and industrial problems. This application is desirable if we 
are to effect the right interrelation between education and in- 
dustry — an issue fraught with some peril. 

Summary 

Without attempting to review the vast fields to which we have 
referred in this chapter, we may emphasize four aspects of the 
general problem of utilizing the research method in the effort to 
secure wholesome, mutual adjustment of education and in- 
dustry. 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 415 

1. Research is a fundamental step preliminary to human prog- 

ress, as proved in the fields of chemistry, physics, medi- 
cine, and invention. Its methods — painstaking collection 
of relevant data, systematic observation and experiment, 
and cautious deduction of principles from facts — are ap- 
plicable to the problems both of industry and of the 
schools. 

2. Industrial researches, in addition to technical studies about 

materials and machines, are being made with success, as 
concerns efficiency of operations, selection of promotional 
material among candidates and employees, occupational 
descriptions and analyses. 

3. Educational researches in school administration vary in aim 

but mainly have been concerned about curricula, courses 
of study, methods of teaching, measurements of achieve- 
ment in spelling, arithmetic, reading, grammar, etc., with 
some attention to building standards, hygiene, and finance. 

4. The movement for better articulation of the school with life 

has given impetus to the industrial survey preliminary to 
the establishment, or addition to existing schools, of voca- 
tional education. Sound principles of research demand 
that a complete vocational-educational survey shall com- 
bine these four elements: (1) Adequate studies of com- 
munity background; (2) studies of existing industries and 
analyses of the important occupations therein contained; 
(3) study of the existing schools, pubhc and private, with 
reference to administration, organization, number, staff, 
hygiene programs, curricula, methods, finance, and general 
operation; (4) constructive plan of action based upon the 
preceding three studies and pointing to definite modifica- 
tions both of schools and of industrial establishments. 

One hears often these days of the new applications of 
scientific psychology to the problems of the schools and of in- 



416 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

dustry. It remains for us to say a word of caution and of in- 
formation regarding practical applications of psychology. 

Problems 

1. Look over the preceding eleven chapters of this book and 

then formulate a statement of twenty different and un- 
solved problems in vocational education which profitably 
might be attacked by the method of scientific research. 

2. Point out the differences between the philosophical and the 

scientific modes of approach upon a problem. 

3. Show that attempts at research without suitable plan or 

preparation upon the part of the investigator may result 
in a mere trial-and-error procedure, imitative effort, or a 
repetition of what is already known. 

4. Read Durand(l) and Thomson(28) and afterwards write a 

brief resume of most important facts and conclusions 
therein. 

5. What are the various meanings of the word practicalf 

6. Describe the essential features and the valid uses of a trade 

test. 

7. Restate the steps or stages in the making of a trade test. 

8. As a study of some magnitude single out a well-defined 

trade in your community (e. g., monotyper, linotyper, 
cabinet maker, stationary engineer, hand cigar-maker, 
tailor,) and without reference to existing tests, make a 
valid performance test, following the procedure indicated 
above. (Problem 7.) 

9. Examine carefully the following reports of surveys and 

classify them as predominantly (a) educational or 
school, or (b) vocational or industrial, or (c) vocational 
educational combined: San Francisco, Cleveland, Indian- 
apolis, Butte, Salt Lake City, Richmond (Va.), Newark, 
St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, Springfield (111.). 
10. Single out a dozen local occupations, study them carefully 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 417 

at first-hand, write specifications for each occupation or 
job. Afterwards compare your own specifications of the 
local occupations with specifications of the War Depart- 
ment and Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

11. In a small city under 25,000 inhabitants, and first obtaining 

skilled assistance and also the cooperation and backing 
of local Board of Education, Association of Commerce, 
and Labor Unions — make a vocational-educational 
survey with a view to mutual adjustments of schools and 
of industry. This, of course, is not an undertaking for 
amateurs. 

12. Before reading the next chapter, recall your own views 

regarding the nature and applications of modern psychol- 
ogy. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Applications of Science. W. F. Durand. The Science Monthly. Au- 

gust 1917, pp. 146-154. 

2. Bigelow, C. M. Industrial Management, pp. 1-8, N. Y., July, 1919. 

3. British Ministry of Labour. Reports on Openings in Industry. 

Pamphlets I-XV, 1918. H. M. Stationery Office, London. 

4. Cleveland Education Survey Reports. 25 volumes. Div. Ed. Russell 

Sage Foundation. New York City. 

5. Farnham, D. T. Industrial Management, N. Y., January, 1919, 

pp. 37-38. 

6. Hill, David S. 

(o) The Application of Research in Relating Industry and Educa- 
tion. School and Society, N. Y., July 6, 1918, pp. 1-11. 
(6) Industry and Education. New Orleans, 1916, 409 p. 111. 

7. The Joxirnal of Educational Research, Bloomington, 111., 1919. 

8. Mahoney, James. Some Foreign Educational Surveys. Bulletin 
No. 37, 1915. U. S. Bureau of Education. 

9. Measurement of Education Products. Part II. Seventeenth Year- 

book, Nat. Soc. for the Study of Education. 1918, 194 p. (Bibliog- 
raphy). 
10. Methods of Gathering Data about Industries. U. S. Education Bulle- 
tin 21, 1916, pp. 98-117. 



418 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

11. Minneapolis, Minn. Vocational Education Survey. U. S. Bureau of 

Labor Statistics, 1917, 592 p. 

12. Personnel Management. Topical Outline and Bibliography. Jan- 

uary, 1919. Adjutant General's Office. Washington, D. C, 
59 p. 

13. Personnel Work in the United States Army. Summary of the work of 

the Classification Division. Adjutant General's Department. Wash- 
ington, D. C, 1919, 15 p. 111. 

14. Plans for Organizing School Surveys. U. S. S. Ed. Thirteenth Year 

Book. Part II., 1913, and bibliography to 1912-1913. 

15. Pritchett, H. S. Survey Movement. Ninth Annual Report Carnegie 

Foundation. 1914. 

16. Prosser, C. A. Organization and Methods of the Survey. Proc. Ninth 

Annual Meeting. Nat. Soc. for the Promotion of Industrial Educa- 
tion, 1916, 403 p., pp. 85-95. 

17. Research — The Amateur Graduate Student. W. A. Hervey. Co- 

lumbia Univ. Quarterly. September, 1916. 

18. Richmond, Va., Vocational Education Survey of. Bulletin 162, 1916, 

U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 333 p. 

19. Right Man in the Right Place. Pamphlet issued by Adjutant Gen- 

eral's Office. 1919, 68 p. 111. Shows trade tests, personnel work, 
ratings, etc. 

20. Scott, Walter D. Selection of Employees by Means of Quantitative 

Determinations. Annals of American Academy of Political and 
Social Science. May, 1916. 

21. Segur, A. B. Industrial Surveys for Physical Readjustment. In- 

dustrial Management. January, 1919, pp. 63-65. 

22. Smith, H. L. Establishing Industrial Schools, N. Y. 1916, 167 p. 

23. Smith, H. S. Survey of a Public School System. (Bloomington, In- 

diana, Schools.) 304 p. Teachers College Publication, 1917. 

24. Standards and Tests for the Measurement of the Efficiency of Schools 

and School Systems. Part I, Fifteenth Yearbook, Nat. Soc. for the 
Study of Education, 1916, 172 p. 

25. Surveys — bibUography to 1914. U. S. Education Report, Vol. 1, 

1914, p. 592 et seq. 

26. Surveys, School; Reviews by E. F. Buchner. Ch. XVIII. U. S. Educa- 

tion Report, 1915, pp. 433-492. 
Also, see ibid.. Vol. I, Ch. XXIV, pp. 513-562, 1914. 

27. Survey of School Surveys. L. P. Ayres, 1915. Ind. Univ. Bulletin, 

October, 1915, pp. 172-181. 

28. Thomson, S .H. An Introduction to Science. N. Y., 1911, 256 p. 



RESEARCH FOR EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY 419 

29. Trade Specifications and Occupational Index. United States Army, 

1918, 239 p. 

30. United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bulletins containing oc- 

cupational analyses of various industries. 1918. 

31. Winslow, Charles H. How the Indiana Surveys were Made. Proc. 

Tenth Annual Meeting, Nat. Soc. for the Promotion of Industrial 
Education. 1917, 311 p. Pp. 31-33. 

32. Yearbooks of National Society for the Study of Education. 1902- 

1920, inclusive. 



CHAPTER XIII 

APPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY TO INSTRUCTION 
AND INDUSTRY 

Psychology Explained: Unwarranted expectations; extreme attitudes; 
what psychology is not; progress of psychology; scope and status. 

Measuring Abilities: Analysis of general intelligence; intelligence as 
voluntary adaptability; testing intelligence; standards of intelligence, in 
army, in university; interpreting tests; not sufficient for guidance; measure- 
ment vs. guess; judging others — students, employees; Hollingworth's 
experiments; army ratings. 

Other Psychological Applications: Mental hygiene; detecting new ca- 
pacities; fatigue; dependence upon special practice; economy in learning — ■ 
modes, habit; instructional methods; principles of method; concrete types 
of teaching. 

The Meaning of Life Work: Three terms distinguished; guidance diffi- 
cult; ideal conceptions; maintaining ideals. 

Summary. Problems. Selected References. 

Psychology Explained 

Unwarranted expectations. Years ago Professor James 
called attention to an unnecessary feeling of strain upon the 
part of some conscientious teachers, lest they do not learn 
enough of psychology to be efficient as instructors. It is not 
true that all of the psychology a teacher needs can be written on 
the palm of one's hand, but it is true that unwarranted, disap- 
pointing expectations have arisen regarding the immediately 
practical benefits to accrue in education from the psychology 
of introspection, reaction time experiments, tests with nonsense 
syllables, and other laboratory devices. In active life outside 
of the school we hear often of the applications of psychology to 
problems of business and industry. The student of the voca- 
tional movement in education may pause therefore long enough 

420 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 421 

to gain an appreciation of what is worth while in the attempt to 
apply psychology to education and to industrial problems. 

Extreme attitudes. Two extremes of position may be found 
with reference to the utility of modern psychology in solving 
problems of education and of business or industry. The one 
extreme is that of credulity or naive faith in almost anything 
that purports to be psychology. The other is an attitude of 
utter dislike of anything called psychological. A writer in a 
journal of business said the mention of applied psychology 
"gave him disgust," and Paul Shorey, a university professor of 
the extreme classical school, writes about as strongly against 
educational psychology. The moderately interested reader is 
puzzled by these extreme opinions and by the fact that psychol- 
ogists among themselves apparently have differed in views. 
With respect to this divergence among psychologists, it may be 
said that points of difference naturally have been discussed and 
magnified more than those conclusions upon which all are prac- 
tically agreed. The steady growing applications of scientific 
psychology in schools, in the Army, in industry and business 
render imperative a sane appraisal of the nature values and 
limitations of this branch of pure science used so much by re- 
searchers. 

What psychology is not. The uninitiated are likely to 
confuse psychology with legends or with pseudo-scientific talk 
about such things as these: Mind-reading, telepathy, search for 
spirits and spooks, phrenology, palmistry, "character reading" 
by physiognomy, animal magnetism, somnambulism, "new 
thought," necromancy, and additional subjects that appeal to 
the morbid. The word psychology has become indelibly associ- 
ated unfortunately with such things in the minds of many intel- 
ligent persons. 

Psychology is only concerned with these matters so far as the 
demonstrable facts about illusions, hallucinations, delusions, 
and suggestion, uncover fraud and error in order to get at the 



422 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

truth. A scientific study is an organized body of knowledge 
based chiefly upon careful observation and recorded experiment. 
Scientific psychology is simply the scientific attempt to study 
mental life wherever found. 

Progress of psychology. Scientific psychology has made re- 
relatively slow progress because all mankind necessarily possesses 
a working knowledge of facts about mental processes (anger, 
fear, memory, imagination, dreams, etc.) and has been satisfied 
with crude psychology. Opposition to psychology has arisen 
owing to the conflict of some psychological findings with in- 
trenched interests in medicine, in education, and in ecclesiasti- 
cism. Furthermore, the subject matter of psychology, mental 
life, is infinitely varied, complex, and difficult. Socrates and 
Aristotle long ago pointed the way to the study of mind — but 
scientific psychology has uniformly made relatively slow prog- 
ress, even during the days of modern experimenters. 

Scope and status. As in medicine, so in psychology many 
pages would be required merely to catalog a classification of the 
types of studies now being made in psychology. The scope of 
pure and of applied psychology is very wide. Pure psychology 
has been approached from various points of view, e. g., the 
philosophical, the physiological, the genetic, the laboratory. 
Its materials for observation include animals and human beings, 
the young and the old, both sexes, the normal and the abnormal. 
Applied psychology is used in medicine, in the training of 
teachers, in business— as in the study of advertising, testing 
candidates for designated positions, discovery of promotional 
material. At best, however, applied psychology is only in its 
beginnings. The American Psychological Association and the 
National Council of Research have maintained a high standard of 
scientific rectitude for its psychological workers. Nevertheless, 
outside of the fold, fakers and pretenders in applied psychology 
abound, often making unwarranted and silly claims for its values 
which may appeal to the credulous or unwary. 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 423 

Measuring Abilities 

Analysis of general intelligence. The expression intelligence 
is inextricably associated with different meanings. For example, 
philosophers debate about the intelligences — animal, human, 
and divine, and intelligence as related to the ''dichotomies and 
trichotomies of the soul." In everyday speech the word intel- 
ligence may vaguely denote discernment, or understanding, or 
power of .cognition, or acquired knowledge, or common sense, 
etc. The practical use of mental tests has rendered imperative a 
statement of the essential properties of the thing to be measured ; 
hence have come numerous attempts to define general intel- 
ligence, a phase of life very desirable to measure. It will be use- 
ful to review briefly some of these attempts before stating a 
working definition. 

James, in distinction from Darwin, held that man has the 
largest number of instincts (inherited racial habits) of any 
animal. Darwin, however, admitted that a high degree of 
intelligence is compatible with complex instincts — as in the case 
of the beaver, the sterile worker-ants, and bees. The problem 
of the nature of intelligence has been probed deeply not only 
with reference to human beings but also with reference to ani- 
mals, as witness the researches of Claparede, Morgan, Forel, 
Jennings, Dawson, Porter, Davis, Watson, and Yerkes. 

Hart and Spearman regard general intelligence as a central 
tendency or common factor of the mind, present in practically 
all mental activities. Laboratory psychologists have been prone 
to single out aspects of memory, attention, imagination, per- 
ception, discrimination, etc., as functions of consciousness and 
by testing these separately have sought a fair sampling of the 
mind. The trouble about this method much used by psychia- 
trists who study and treat mental disease, is that we do not know 
how far general intelligence is related to these specific functions, 
and furthermore, there is assumed in the method an artificial 



424 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

separation or distinction of the functions of the mind from each 
other and from the emotional nature. (18) (22) 

Intelligence as voluntary adaptability. Although the ex- 
pression general intelligence remains ambiguous, nevertheless 
much has been gained by the movement to limit and circum- 
scribe definitely what we shall denote by general intelligence in 
the practice work of testing. Any pragmatic definition doubt- 
less will be unsatisfactory to the metaphysically minded ; never- 
theless it has been pointed out that we do not have to be able 
to define a thing truly before we are able to use it, for example, 
electricity. 

The movement to limit the meaning of the expression general 
intelligence is discerned in the work of such investigators as 
Binet, Burt, Spearman, Stern, and Terman. Stern, as trans- 
lated by Whipple, felicitously expresses a widely accepted work- 
ing definition as follow : hitelUgence is a general capacity of an 
individual to adjust his thinking to new requirements: it is general 
mental adaptability to new problems and conditiotis of life. (22) The 
definition is not final and denotes something quite different from 
that implied in the common loose use of the expression. It de- 
notes by general intelligence essentially a mental capacity for 
voluntary, advantageous adaptability to definite, new conditions. 

Testing intelligence. Mental testing is very practically re- 
lated to contemporary educational and applied psychology as 
developed by Thorndike, Hollingworth, Judd, Dearborn, Free- 
man, Starch, Woolley, Colvin, Gordon, and others. Indeed, it 
is impracticable to draw rigid lines between the three kinds of 
experiments in educational and applied psychology, viz.: (1) 
Experiments upon the learning process, upon individual differ- 
ences, etc.; (2) measurements of achievement in school subjects, 
such as spelling, reading, writing, arithmetic; (3) mental tests 
to measure specific traits, or attitudes, or general intelligence. 

We have already referred to contemporary uses of mental 
tests for the quick selection of good promotive material in Indus- 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 425 

try and in the schools. A psychological experiment of the lab- 
oratory and research type, is simply an introspection under con- 
trolled conditions. A mental test resembles it in that conditions 
similarly must be controlled, and accuracy of observation and 
report must be secured. It differs from the old-time psychologi- 
cal experiment in that emphasis is placed upon behavior, per- 
formance, rather than upon introspection. It can be used there- 
fore with children and with those untrained in psychological 
introspection. The purposes of mental tests are also becoming 
restricted and more clearly specified, such as, to ascertain the 
presence and amount of certain traits, or to measure aptitudes 
for designated mental and physical performances, or to ascertain 
the relative amount of "general intelligence." The technics 
of the trained psychologist, of the statistician, and of the skilled 
teacher are being focused upon the derivation and standard- 
ization of mental tests. A sound appraisal of their limitations 
and values always is desirable, but already far more good re- 
sults from mental tests are accruing, than have been secured 
from the merely laboratory type of psychological experiment, 
which has been a disappointment in pragmatic uses. 

Standards of intelligence, in army, in university. We are 
printing Figure VIII and Table XXI which are examples of re- 
cent uses of the Army Intelligence Tests. In Figure VIII are 
shown the scores made by men classified in various occupational 
groups within the Army.(l) Although the results are open to 
certain criticism they mark the beginning of a real occupational 
psychology. However, it is not known just what grade of oc- 
cupational skill is actually represented by the men classified in 
the different groups, and the aspects of intelligence measured by 
the particular test do not give accurately comparable pictures of 
the "general intelligence" of the men, defined in broad terms. 
In Table XXI are given the results of the application under 
the writer's direction of Army Tests (Alpha-Form 6) to about 
3500 students in the University of Illinois during 1919. (7c) 



3 Laborers -^^m^" 

48 TailorsJ •^— i 

47c Cobblers _ 

12g General'Minera ■»- 

27t Teamsters mm 

12dr Mine Drill Runners _■■» 

2f Farmers ■ 

9 Concrete Workers -wmmm 

27b Horse liostlers — i 

45 Barbers, 

63b Gen. Boiler Makers 

7H HorsesHoers 

6r3 R. R. Shop Mechanics- 

40Ca Caterer^ • 

26 Bricklayers 

40e Cooks. I 

75 Laundrymen 

26s Stat. Gas Enginemen - - 

40b Bakers-j. 

27tr Horse T -ainers 

13 Painters 

7g Gen. Blacksmiths 

8Br BridgeCjarpenters 

23t Heavy Truck Drivers _ - 

8g Gen. Caji-penters 

17me Marine Enginemen 

Butchers 



171e Locomotive Enginemen 

61 Lathe riand 

6g Gen. Mtlchinists 

171f Locomotive Firemen — 

21rh Hand Riveters 

15b Brakemen 

32t Tel. andTel. Linemen_ 

15c R. R. Conductors 

14g Gen. Pipefitters .| _ 

22m Motorcyclists. 

14p Plumbers 

6to Tool and Gauge Makers- 

11 Gunsmiths- 

22a Auto Chauf! 

6mc Gen. Mecha 

24g Gen. Auto Repa 

6tr Tool Roim Experts- 

82 Detectives and Polic 
24e Auto Erlgine Mechai 
24a Auto Assemblers _ - 
18c Stock Checkers 

83 Ship Capenters 

28 Farrier and Veterinarians - 

23tm Truckmksters 

330 Telephone Operators 

50c Concrete Construction ^ o 

18r Receiver and Shipper _ 

18s Stock Keeper 

84 Photographer 

log Gen. Electricians 

44b Band Milsicians 

Sit Telegraphers 

38rr R. R. cferks 

38f Filing clerks 

38g Gen. Clerks- 



Army 
38b Bookkeepers 

Dental y fTicers 

29m Mechanical Draftsmen- 
39 Stenographers and Typi: 

37 Accountants 

105 Civil Engineers 

Y.M.C.A. Secretaries- 

Medicallofficers 

Army Cfiapl: 



Engineer Officers - 



OCCUPATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE STANDARDS 



Leng- ;h of Bar Shows Range of 
Middle 60 Percent 

Vertical Crossbar ^OWB 
Poaitior of Median 



Fig. VIII. — Occupational Intelligence Standards in the 
United States Army 

Bar shows range of middle 50 per cent. The vertical cross bar shows 
position of median. The figure is based on data for approximately 36,500 
men. Numbers at extreme left are key numbers of occupations. Data 
taken from soldiers' Qualification Cards. ^ 426 



TABLE XXI 
Intelligence Scores at University op Illinois 



I I 

College or School cB a, '3 'S 

Liberal Arts and Sciences fin cb i^ cc 

Median 147 145 145 151 

High Score 188 206 192 206 

Low Score 52 70 80 79 

Students taking test first time 489 278 278 229 

Commerce 

Median 140 151 151 150 

High Score 193 197 206 169 

Low Score 51 73 74 88 

Students taking test first time 218 118 78 25 

Engineering 

Median 140 144 147 144 

High Score 196 191 193 191 

Low Score 41 46 73 87 

Students taking test first time 304 123 102 69 

Agriculture 

Median 139 138 137 145 

High Score 199 197 189 186 

Low Score 74 63 49 96 

Students taking test first time 134 67 48 42 

Law 1st year 2nd year 

Median 163 

High Score 178 192 

Low Score 112 129 

Students taking test first time 11 9 

Music 

Median 121 131 

High Score 159 179 166 041 

Low Score 80 103 110 120 

Students taking test first time 15 11 9 5 

Library 1st year 2d year 

Median 

High Score 198 172 

Low Score 92 146 

Students taking tests first time 7 6 

Graduate 1st year 2d year 3d year 

Median 150 156 155 

High Score 191 205 207 

Low Score 80 105 96 

Students taking test first time 90 37 14 

Sex Differences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 

Freshmen Sophomore Junior Senior 

MW MW MW MW 

149 136 150 140 147 143 159 147 

427 



428 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Interpreting tests. To understand Army scoring, it should 
be borne in mind that the maximum score possible in the Alpha 
tests is 212 points. The letter equivalents are assigned as 
follows: 

A=135-212; B = 105-134; C+= 75-104; 

C= 45-74; C- = 25- 44; D= 15-24; D- =0-14. 

We believe we have already emphasized fairly the pitfalls lurk- 
ing in the use of mental tests, notwithstanding their demonstra- 
ble and growing values in the schools and in industry. (See pp. 
398 and 421). Caution must be used particularly in the manage- 
ment of tests given simultaneously to groups of persons. Group 
tests are becoming more popular because of obvious economies 
of time and labor in the administration of the same. However, 
there are certain difficulties in a group test that must be care- 
fully considered. The person in a group reacts differently than 
when alone. In a group distraction may occur, or discomfort, 
interruption, negligence, inattention, cheating. City and coun- 
try children may act with characteristically different attitudes 
in group and in individual tests respectively, and in the presence 
of strangers. A skilled examiner tactfully strives to combat 
these factors in order to prevent the entire invalidation of 
results. 

Not sufficient for guidance. To date, attempts to build a 
system of vocational guidance relying chiefly upon mental 
tests have failed. Hollingworth has shown that such attempts, 
as in the case of palmistry, fortune-telling, phrenology, have 
long been a persistent, illusory pursuit. (8) It is perhaps futile to 
hope that any adequate vocational guidance of youth ever will 
depend chiefly upon mental tests of ability or aptitude. Prac- 
tical vocational guidance or advisement has many inseparable 
phases or steps, such as: The matter of personal choice, the 
systematic study of industries and occupations, the disclosure 
of opportunities, educational guidance, training for citizenship, 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 429 

training for definite occupation, placement, facilitating pro- 
motion, follow-up work. A man who would solve such com- 
plicated problems solely and exclusively by the use of "tests" be 
they derived from some physiognomic delusion, or phrenological 
chicanery, or be they genuine measures of general intelligence, 
is probably either a faker or a simpleton, and possibly both. 

Students of modern mental tests, and social workers who 
witness the use of such tests upon juvenile delinquents, the 
feeble-minded, and the unfortunate, know practically that no 
mental test or scale in existence used alone is sufficient to serve 
as the criterion in business, industry, institution, school, or 
court, of an individual's fitness or destiny, when the data con- 
cerning the hereditary, environmental, and physiological con- 
ditions of the individual are unknown or neglected. A few 
enthusiasts with Binet or other tests have exhibited an almost 
superstitious belief in the magical efficacy of their devices, which 
is as foolish as the stiff-necked opposition to all thoroughgoing 
studies of each markedly exceptional individual for whom a 
decision regarding treatment or disposition must be made, 
whether in school or court. In the investigation of hundreds of 
cases of children and adults from the juvenile court, or the 
public schools, or the university, the writer has found it indis- 
pensable to combine and to review the data obtained from 
physicians, teachers, and social workers, with the results of his 
own mental testing with the form-board, with the Binet, with 
the Healy, and other good instruments of mental measurement, 
before drawing conclusions about an individual. Tests, how- 
ever, have a valid function in this work. 

Measurement vs. guess. In business as well as at school 
we all judge or estimate the general intelligence of our friends, 
whether or not we use formal tests. The refined, scientific judg- 
ment relies rather upon the application of a standard unit than 
merely upon opinion or comparisons. The mastery of heat, 
electricity, and metals is due in last analysis to the use of stand- 



430 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

ard units. Quantitative physics and chemistry have made 
possible the gigantic ocean vessel amenable in control to the 
brain and hand of one man, in distinction from the raft and 
canoe of our ancestors. The goal of science is control. Ulti- 
mately better control of the processes and results of education 
may accrue from the substitution of quantitative measurement 
in place of prejudice and opinion. 

Judging others. Both teachers and also employment man- 
agers systematize their use of opinion in estimating the worth 
of human beings although they may not use mental or other 
formal tests. Such systematized judgments we must rely upon 
largely, but they have severe limitations in respect to accuracy. 
For example, consider two illustrative cases — one concerning 
students, the other business employees. 

Students. A familiar experiment in educational psychology 
requires a group of teachers acting individually to mark or grade 
the same examination paper and then to study the resulting 
variation in judgments of value. Kelly reports upon such an 
experiment at Harvard, as follows: 

An examination of the teaching in the Division of Economics at 
Harvard University was completed by the Division of Education of 
that university in September, 1916. It includes a study of marks given 
by seven instructors who graded ten mid-year examination books. 
In each book there were ten answers, and each instructor gave a sepa- 
rate mark for each answer, as well as a mark for the book as a whole. 
All of the questions proposed in the examination were asked in such a 
way that there could be no fundamental disagreement as to the state- 
ment of fact involved in any given answer. The table given below 
shows how widely the instructors varied in their estimate of the ten 
books: 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 



431 



Number of Book 


Highest Mark 


Lowest Mark 


1 


95 


75 


2 


81 


69 


3 


81 


66 


4 


88 


60 


5 


85 


65 


6 


84 


62 


7 


71 


57 


8 


69 


50 


9 


63 


46 


10 


47 


28 



Even greater variations appear in marking the separate questions. 
Only one answer out of the hundred which appeared in the ten books 
received the same mark by all seven instructors ; and there were only 
seven cases where five or more professors agreed upon the rank to 
be given a question. Variations in marking were found to be so great 
that under certain circumstances a professor's tendency to mark high 
or low could determine a man's success, not only in attaining a degree 
with distinction, but even in securing his A. B. degree at all. Similar 
discrepancies are to be found in the marks of school teachers every- 
where, the widest differences appearing in the judgments of any group 
of instructors who are asked to mark the papers of students in any sub- 
ject.(12). 



Employees. The second illustration refers to variability 
in judgment in appraising candidates for emplojmient, and em- 
ployees. Employment managers formulate for themselves 
certain standards of appraisal which more or less consciously 
they use as candidates for position or promotion are under 
consideration. Scott, of Northwestern University, thus experi- 
mented with six experienced managers: 

There were thirty-six candidates for a selling position in a 
firm employing a thousand salesmen scattered over the United 



432 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

States. District managers were in charge of subdivisions of the 
whole territory. 

These district managers in the past selected their salesmen more or 
less independently. There was no way to tell whether the different 
managers would have agreed as to which of all the applicants to reject 
and which ones to select. The following experiment makes clear the 
amount of agreement and disagreement between the selections of 
six of these district managers. 

Thirty-six applicants for a selling position for this company assembled 
at Evanston, Illinois. Each of the six managers occupied a room in 
Northwestern University Psychological Laboratory where he inter- 
viewed each of the thirty-six applicants. Each manager was instructed 
to assume that he alone stood between the applicant and the pay roll 
of the company. This was a responsibility that every manager was 
familiar with. Following the interview each manager made a report 
on each of the thirty-six applicants and indicated which was the most 
likely candidate, the second best, the third best, etc. . . . Applicant 
I was thought to be the fifth best by Manager A; the eleventh best by 
Manager B ; the second best by Manager C ; tied for first place by Man- 
ager D; third by Manager E; and second best by Manager F. 

It was the intention of the company to select about one-half of the 
applicants. It might have been assumed that these six district man- 
agers would have agreed pretty closely as to whether a particular ap- 
pUcant was in the upper half of a group or in the lower half. As a 
matter of fact, in the case of twenty-eight of the applicants, these six 
managers disagreed as to whether the individual should be placed in 
the upper or the lower half of the group. All agreed that Applicants 
I, II, IV, VI, and XVI should be in the upper half, and that applicants 
XXXIV, XXV and XXVI should be in the lower half. An inspection 
of the results showed much agreement among the six managers, but 
the disagreements were striking. Thus applicant XVII was thought to 
be the third best of the group of thirty-six by Manager C ; but was placed 
thirtieth by Manager B. Applicant XVIII was thought to be the 
best in the group by Manager E; but was ranked as tied for the thirty- 
second place by Manager D. Yet there is reason to believe that these 
six gentlemen agreed even more closely than is the case with employ- 
ment agents in general. 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 433 

The ordinary method of selecting employees is by means of inspec- 
tion, interviews, and recommendations. These are not worthless and 
they secure results much better than would be done by flipping a coin 
or by drawing the names by chance out of a hat. Such methods are, 
however, unscientific, unsatisfactory , and should be supplemented. (21b) 

Hollingworth's experiments. Other experiments indicate 
abundantly the vaiiation and the unreliability of appraising the 
virtues or defects of others or of oneself. Hollingworth secured 
results about similar to the above by having students who knew 
each other score both themselves and their acquaintances upon 
these traits: Neatness, Intelligence, Humor, Conceit, Beauty, 
Vulgarity, Snohhishness, Refinement, Sociability .{^) 

The army ratings. Factors that make for definiteness in 
the qualities in men to be judged tend toward agreement in 
observers. The United States Army utihzed a method in rating 
officers which has worked fairly well and helped to solve this 
problem of securing reasonable agreement in judgments of men. 
The scale is made definite by means of this ingenious process: 
Each rating officer creates his own scale with five headings and 
based upon officers of various merits whom he has known well. 
Under each of the five headings he places appropriately five 
names of such officers of his acquaintance — altogether twenty- 
five names. In rating his subordinates he then compares each 
subordinate actually judged with the men upon his fixed scale. 
A man's total rating will be the sum of the scores under all of 
the five headings. We are printing below a sample scale with 
the names of the twenty-five officers whom the maker of this 
scale uses as his standards of comparison in rating his subordi- 
nates. (17) 



434 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 
THE RATING SCALE CARD 



Physical Qualities 
Physique, bearing, neatness, 
voice, energy, endurance. 
Consider how he impresses his 
command in these respects. 



II. Intelligence. 

Accuracy, ease in learning; abil- 
ity to grasp quickly the point of 
view of commanding officer, to 
issue clear and intelligent 
orders, to estimate a new situa- 
tion, and to arrive at a sensible 
decision in a crisis. 



III. Leadership. 

Initiative, force, self reliance, 
decisiveness, tact, ability to in- 
spire men and to command 
their obedience, loyalty and co 
operation. 



IV. Personal Qualities. 

Industry, dependability, loy- 
alty; readiness to shoulder re 
sponsibility for his own acts; 
freedom from conceit and self- 
ishness; readiness and ability 
to cooperate. 



General Value to the Ser- 
vice. 

Professional knowledge, skill 
and experience; success as ad- 
ministrator and instructor; 
ability to get results. 



Highest: Capt. John Doe 15 

High: Capt. H. Black 12 

Middle: Capt. R. White 9 

Low: Capt. W. Smith 6 

Lowest: Capt. E. Jones 3 

Highest: Capt. R. White 15 

High: Capt. B.Gray 12 

Middle: Capt W. Smith 9 

Low: Capt. J. Brown 6 

Lowest: Capt. E. Jones 3 

Highest: Capt. B. Gray 15 

High: Capt. John Doe 12 

Middle: Capt. R. White 9 

Low: Capt.W. Green 6 

Lowest: Capt. R. Blue 3 

Highest: Capt. H. Black 15 

High: Capt. W. Smith 12 

Middle: Capt. R. White 9 

Low: Capt. A. Old 6 

Lowest: Capt. J. Young 3 

Highest: Capt. R. Day 40 

High: Capt. H. Night 32 

Middle: Capt. R. Roe 24 

Low: Capt. A. Old 16 

Lowest: Capt. R. Blue 8 



This scale would be used in rating First Lieutenants. The officers listed 
would be regarded as the "Standards." 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 435 

This interesting plan is being extended to business use. 
P. J, Reilly has devised nearly such a scale for the rating 
of foremen, his five qualities for judging being these: (1) Trade 
Ability; (2) Production; (3) Administration; (4) Training; (5) 
Special Executive Qualifications. (12) 

Other Psychological Applications 

Mental hygiene. Very many of the thousands of persons 
now in hospitals for the insane were once pupils in schools, and, 
later, workers in industry. There are millions of persons who do 
not suffer from dementia (mental bankruptcy) or amentia 
(arrest of mental growth) who nevertheless are handicapped by 
faulty mental habits such as chronic w^orry, anxiety, fear; inde- 
cision, vacillation, inattention, lack of concentration; indolence; 
immorality.. The tendency of ameliorative effort to-day is in 
the direction of prevention rather than mere cure. The control- 
lable conditions of work, play, sleep, recreation, and one's inter- 
est and satisfaction in his vocation are potent factors of mental 
stability. 

The psychopathic employee, or employer, or pupil, is always 
a troublesome proposition. Directors of vocational education 
have not time or inclination or preparation to go into the matter 
of diagnosis of the mentally defective. The question in a crisis 
properly will be submitted to a psychiatrist. A qualified psy- 
chiatrist is a physician who has been specially trained in the 
study of abnormal psychology and also in the treatment of the 
mind. An elementary knowledge of such matters upon the part 
of an expert vocational officer might be of service in enabling 
him to detect more readily the necessity of prompt reference 
of a case to a qualified psychiatrist for detailed study and wise 
treatment. 

Detecting new capacities. At least an attitude might be 
cultivated in personnel and vocational experts, by means of the 
skillful presentation in conferences and readings of the essential 



436 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

principles of abnormal psychology, which might help them to- 
ward these two desirable results: (1) To be able to recognize 
more accurately the various factors in the mind of worker or 
pupil, to appreciate better his point of view, and (2) to detect 
points of undiscovered capacity as a basis for occupational train- 
ing, as well as serious defects interfering with any proposed 
vocational training, or job. 

Fatigue. Work is not all immediately pleasant, and for 
instructors to be able to predict something definite about the 
progress and process in the acquisition of skill and of knowledge 
is worth while. It has not often been found desirable or practi- 
cable in schools or shops to plot curves of the changing speed 
and accuracy from hour to hour, and from day to day. It is 
quite worth while, however, for an instructor or a superintendent 
to know that habit-building in many instances can be charted 
(as for example in learning to typewrite, or to run a machine), 
that various physical and mental factors effect the rise and fall 
of the learning curve of an individual engaged in daily attack 
upon a work of labor or play; and that "plateaus" where no 
progress is made are likely to occur, calling for urging of the 
student, or for rest, as the circumstances dictate. Here may be 
found useful for reference some of the studies of Bryan and 
Harter, Book, and Thorndike. 

Dependence upon special practice. A confirmed tendency 
in school practice is to depend largely upon formal discipline 
or doing some painful task in some specific subject in the expec- 
tation that therefrom will invariably accrue, or transfer, a gen- 
eral benefit. Acquire accuracy, or speed, or good judgment, or 
good memory in the doing of one thing and the effect will trans- 
fer equally to other activities in life, it was believed. Upon this 
plea many a useless and ill-taught course remains in the school 
programs, and it has also affected some of the methods and 
aims of manual training. It is the exploded doctrine of extreme 
formal discipline. 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 437 

In giving vocational instruction, this tendency must be 
guarded against, especially in the necessary book work where 
conventional pedagogues are inducted into the service. The 
present status of the doctrine of special practice is approximately 
this: (1) There is a possibility of considerable transfer effect 
(through ''ideals of method," "generalized experience," "iden- 
tical elements," etc.) of the results of a special practice. (2) 
The actual amount of transfer is usually a false assumption. 
(3) Much of the present literature is controversial and contra- 
dictory. One's attitude toward the whole matter of school 
ideals, courses of study, and methods will be determined largely 
by his attitude upon formal discipline. If our assumption con- 
cerning the significance or practical outcome of the position of 
educators upon this question be accepted, it seems that voca- 
tional teachers might well consider the results of the studies of 
Thorndike, Colvin, and Judd upon this central topic of educa- 
tional science. 

Economy in learning. There are other general principles 
of psychology to be made conscious to every student and teacher 
who seeks success with economy of effort in the pursuit of skill 
and knowledge. 

For example, there are the three general modes of all learning : 
(1) Learning hy trial and error, which is the animal way, in hu- 
man beings called "the school of experience" — an effective but 
costly school. (2) Learning hij imitation — a common, almost 
universal practice — but limited where new achievement is 
sought. (3) Learning hy use of free ideas, reasoning — the method 
of the thinker, the inventor, the creator. 

Realization of the possibilities of the habit forming tendency 
is also of personal value to students and industrial workers. 
Habit is primarily a modification of our original nature, a change 
which we have gained through individual experience. Habits, 
good and bad, as James shows, (9) may be formed, like the per- 
manent bending of a metal rod by many repetitions, or by one 



438 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

strong intense effort. A process made habitual becomes more 
accurate, more speedy, less conscious, hence a useful habit well 
acquired makes for mental economy. The threefold law of 
habit-building as stated by Bagley is this: (a) Focalization of 
consciousness upon the combination of movements to be made 
automatic; (b) attentive repetition of this behavior; (c) per- 
mitting no exceptions to occur until the habit has been estab- 
lished. (3) 

Instructional methods. In preceding chapters we have 
repeatedly touched upon questions of methods in teaching. We 
beheve, that given a thorough knowledge of one's subject or 
trade, and a good knowledge of human nature — preferably 
supplemented by facts from scientific psychology and physiol- 
ogy — an enthusiastic teacher need not bother about the various 
classroom devices offered by advocates of method and technic 
in classroom instruction. 

However, teachers rightly demand of professors and re- 
searchers some analysis and practical help in the matter of 
effective teaching. Books on the subject are as a rule unsatis- 
fying. So profitable in the past has been the pubHcation of 
books on pedagogy considered chiefly as "method," it came to 
pass that many relatively unscientific writers entered this field of 
authorship, while men of truly scientific standing in psychology 
were too busy to attack the problem of method or were indif- 
ferent. It has come about, therefore, that the word " pedagogy," 
either from this cause, or by reason of its historical origin, brings 
not infrequently a contumelious reaction in real scholars. Lat- 
terly it is l^ecoming the fashion to avoid the word "method" 
altogether and substitute for it some other expression. That 
great Frenchman, Binet, complained that too many pedagogical 
discussions were mere verbiage. What is needed, he pointed out, 
is to subject pedagogical theories or hypotheses to actual trial, 
and where possible under experimental conditions. Herein lies 
much of the value of the work of such researchers as Binet in 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 439 

France, Meumann in Germany, Winch in England, and of Rice, 
Gorman, Ayres, Thorndike, Judd, Dearborn, Whipple, O'Shea, 
Gourtis, Starch, Ballou, and Freeman in America. With regard 
to method, the desired procedure is to try out under experimental 
conditions any educational process that promises to make for 
economy of time and effort and to record and analyze the 
results. 

Principles of method. Gonclusions regarding method, based 
more upon philosophical than upon experimental evidence, 
abound in the literature of the history of education — from 
Quintilian to Dewey. For example, John Dewey deplores the 
currency of wrong conceptions of the value of logical methods 
appealing to matured, developed experience, to the neglect of 
practices that have been found helpful in teaching. Such prac- 
tices are considerations of order, sequence, definiteness, fit 
adaptation of means to ends, thoughtful surveys and reviews of 
ground traversed. Goncerning method, "the way of going at a 
thing" as related to teaching, he says: 

Strictly speaking, method is thoroughly individual. Each person 
has his own instinctive way of going at a thing; the attitude and the 
mode of approach and attack are individual. To ignore this individual- 
ity of approach, to try to substitute for it, under the name of "general 
method," a uniform scheme of procedure, is simply to cripple the only 
effective agencies of operation, and to overlay them with a mechanical 
formaUsm that produces only a routine conventionality of mental 
quaUty. 

The primary factor in general method, so construed, is the existence 
of a situation which appeals to an individual as his own concern or in- 
terest, that is to say, as presenting an end to be achieved, because 
arousing desire and effort. The second point is that the conditions 
be such as to stimulate observation and memory in locating the means, 
the obstacles and resources that must be reckoned with in dealing with 
the situation. The third point is the formation of a plan of procedure, 
a theory or hypothesis about the best way of proceeding. The fourth 
is putting the plan into operation. The fifth and last is the comparison 



440 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

of the result reached with what was intended, and a consequent esti- 
mate of the worth of the method followed, a more critical discernment 
of its weak and its strong points. These five steps may be reduced to 
three more generic ones. The first and fundamental condition of 
right method is the existence of some concrete situation involving an 
end that interests the individual, and that requires active and thought- 
ful effort in order to be reached. The second is consideration of the 
nature of the problem, the difficulty or perplexity involved in reaching 
the end set, so as to form a suggestion or conjecture as to the best way 
of proceeding to solve the difficulty. The third is the overt effort in 
which the thought of the plan is applied and thereby tested. Scientific 
method will be found to involve exactly the same steps, save that a 
scientific mode of approach implies a large body of prior empirical 
and tentative procedures which have finally been sifted so as to develop 
a technic consciously formulated and adapted to the given type of 
problem. (4) 

Method, as indicated above, is essentially a problem of the 
individual, but there seem to be some principles of educational 
practice of quite general applicability to the educative process. 
Suzzalo emphasizes six principles of this kind : 

1. Aim. It must be recognized that the ultimate function of the 
school is social, however variously the schoolmaster may organize 
or emphasize the specific aims or values. 

2. Interest. The fundamental determinant of the teaching process 
is the unfolding nature of the child. To recognize stable interests as 
the basis for teaching is to guarantee absorption in the work at 
hand. 

3. Expression. Normally a person learns by doing. 

4. Motivation. The person should be enabled to feel that the acqui- 
sition of facts or skill is related to his own need to act. 

5. Concentration. The center of the school curriculum is not in any 
one subject (geography, history, science, literature) but in the active 
needs of the child. 

6. Apperception. What the child can learn depends upon his pre- 
vious knowledge. 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 441 

Concrete types of teaching. The same author further or- 
ganizes the types of teaching in common use into sixteen 
groups, namely: (1) Expression; (2) practice; (3) objectifi cation; 
(4) induction; (5) deduction; (6) formal association; (7) study; 
(8) discipline; (9) appreciation; (10) instruction; (11) investiga- 
tion; (12) development; (13) drill; (14) examination; (15) re- 
view; (16) assignment. (23) 

Very different from this type of review of the principles of 
method, is an account of the kinds of devices for instruction 
found in industrial and business schools. For example, a com- 
mittee of the National Association of Corporation Schools 
ascertained by questionnaire from thirty-three mostly large 
firms two sets of facts: (1) Subjects taught; (2) methods em- 
ployed in teaching the same. A concise view of the information 
obtained from them is shown in Table XXII on page 442. 

The Meaning of Life Work 

Three terms distinguished. Education for vocation should 
have a noble meaning, but the terms work, drudgery, vocation 
should be well understood. Work is to be distinguished from 
mere drudgery and toil. Drudgery is more familiar than work to 
mankind because of their lack of opportunity, or lack of physi- 
cal well-being, or because of mental arrest, or on account of 
mal-adjustment of individual and of activity. Ingredients of 
drudgery are too long hours, uninteresting tasks, unpleasant 
supervision, ill health. Work, at its best in human life, is some- 
thing more than the mechanical conversion of energy, such as 
motion of wheels into heat or light or electricity. Work means 
effort, but conscious movement directed toward a remote goal. 
It is not mere painful action, nor is it an incessant insect-like 
being-busy that accomplishes little. Work at its best is not 
only purposeful activity directed to a future end, it is also 
activity tinctured with the spirit of play, and perhaps in the 
course of evolution both the physical and mental bases of work 



TABLE XXII 

Various Methods Employed by Different Organizations 

IN Conducting their Educational Work 





a 








t3 










IK 

o 




o 








<Q 


<o 


Ti 






TS -C 




■^ 


>, 






§ 


§ 


o 






o TS "S 


Classification by Industry of 




02 


1 


o 




a 




o 

-4^ 


'TIS 
1 




Corporation Schools 


g o 

w 


m O 

in 




o 


1 

o 

a 

i 

o 
O 


o 

§ 

1— 1 


o 
o 




d 

a 
1 


Conference 
Objective IV 
Miscellaneo 


Locomotive Manufacturing 




* 




* 


* 


* 


* 








Manufacturer 


* 


* 




* 




* 


* 


* 




* 


Public Service Company 




* 










* 








Automobile Manufacturing Co. 




* 


* 


* 






* 








Printers and Bookbinders 


* 


* 


* 






* 


* 








Steel Manufacturing Co. 


* 




















Steel Manufacturing Co. 




* 








* 










Steel Manufacturing Co. 




* 




* 




* 


* 


* 






Hardware Manufacturers 








* 














Hardware Manufacturers 


* 


* 


* 


* 


* 


* 


* 






* 


Mail Order Company 


* 




* 


* 




* 


* 








Leather Manufacturing Co. 


* 




















Manufacturers of Wearing 






















Apparel 






* 


* 














Manufacturers of Electrical 






















Apparatus 


* 


* 


* 


* 




* 


* 








Railroad 




* 




* 






* 








Manufacturers of Machinery 


* 






* 




* 


* 








Metal Manufacturers 


* 


* 


* 


* 




* 


* 


* 


* 




Telephone Company 


* 






« 






* 








Telephone Company 


* 






* 






* 








Manufacturer of Rubber Goods 


* 


* 




* 








* 




* 


Metal Manufacturer 


* 






* 














Manufacturer of Machinery 


* 


* 


* 






* 


* 


* 


* 


tc * 


Railroad 








* 




* 










Construction Engineers 








* 




* 










Oil Refiners 


* 


* 


* 




* 


* 


* 


* 




* 


Automobile Manufacturers 




* 






* 










* 


Railroad 


* 


* 






* 












Specialty Manufacturers 


* 


* 




* 




* 


* 


* 




* 


Metal Manufacturer 




* 


















Telephone and Telegraph Co. 


* 






* 


* 




* 


* 






Corset Manufacturers 








* 


* 




* 








Manufacturer of Machinery 










* 




* 






* 


Oil Refiners 




* 






* 













* Asterisk indicates that this method is employed by organizations shown. 

442 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 443 

and play have a common development, as, for example, in the 
inborn tendency to constructiveness. This instinct of con- 
structiveness has later developments both in the make-believe 
creations of childish hands and also in the production of things 
of value— houses, bridges, ships, which are largely, too, the 
product of economic pressure. The rich results of the work of 
the creative artist, or inventor, or statesman often come through 
prodigious activities, and in these play and work have blended. 

Experimental, genetic, pedagogical, and social studies of work, 
physical and mental, have made somewhat clearer the mean- 
ings and significance of drudgery, toil, fatique, play, and avoca- 
tion, and the value of hygienic efficiency. We know that work, 
defined as conscious effort toward a future ideal, has uniformi- 
ties in process, and a knowledge of these uniformities gives us 
control, a result that is the ultimate end of many sciences. In 
genuine work there is mental concentration, pleasurable interest, 
organization of details, elimination of non-essential movements. 
Work, with sufficient repetition and with sufficient intensity, 
tends to make motion become more accurate, more speedy, less 
conscious, thus with every achievement equipping the organism 
for more and better work. 

Employers and employees and teachers who regard daily work 
only as a "job" without regard to the development of the 
individual or an ambition to build up a vocation of ascending 
values and rewards are on dangerous ground. Mr. Fuld thus 
expresses the fact: 

The worker's most important possession is his job. Upon his job 
depends his health, leisure, power, living conditions, and his happiness 
and the happiness of all who are dear to him. If he is separated from his 
job it is a personal calamity of the greatest importance, and if he be- 
lieves himself unjustly separated from his job he becomes a national 
menace and a possible officer in the ranks of Bolshevism. 

A worker cannot, when separated from his job, rely upon his accu- 
mulated wealth to support himself until he gets a new one, because he 



444 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

has no capital. A worker cannot, when separated from his job, spend 
his leisure in browsing among the philosophers of past ages nor can he 
readily embark upon a new sea of endeavor, because he has no educa- 
tion other than the training he has received from his experience. A 
worker cannot, when separated from his job, enjoy himself until he 
finds another, because there can be no happiness when the family 
larder is empty and the landlord is clamoring for the rent. (5) 

Guidance difficult. Jobs are necessary fragments of voca- 
tion, but vocation should mean life-work and nothing less. 
Life-work ideally is found in the adjustment of the individual 
through right education meeting opportunity in business or 
industry or profession. They who undertake that new attempt 
at conscious evolution — organized vocational guidance, there- 
fore are superficial in method if they do not understanding^ 
unravel the tangle of inter-dependent factors that determines 
the careers of boys and girls. Opportunity must be known, 
sifted, exhibited; this means a knowledge of economic and social 
conditions, of the status of local industries, commerce, trades, 
professions, occupations. The individual must be known; this 
does not imply mere knowledge of that non-existent phantom, 
the " average boy or girl " portrayed in text-books; it is a demand 
that we be able to know the individual by a method more sure 
than casual observation, and demands the best of psychology. 
In the study of individuals will be encountered also those com- 
plex factors, personal preference and choice, — inevitable in all 
fitting of human beings into appropriate grooves, or changing 
grooves to fit human beings. 

Ideal conceptions. There is a broader vision of vocational 
education than to think of it confusedly as some short avenue 
to a commercial position or to superficial success. Education for 
vocation, or for life, should enable a man or woman to bear the 
burden of life rather than to become a parasite. It should tend 
to develop health, independence, ambition, active morality 
within our great democracy. Education encourages in one the 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 445 

desire to do some one thing "well, perhaps to do it better than any 
one else, and by the exercise of this trained ability to make a 
contribution to the betterment of human life. This conception 
of education forever banishes the false notion that education 
is merely for the favored few, either solely for ''idle gentlemen's 
sons," or for "sons of the working people." It opens new pos- 
sibilities in the adjustment of individual capacity to the various 
employments and dignifies these with importance, whether 
these vocations be those of the farmer, the mechanic, the seam- 
stress, the cook, the mill hand, the sailor, the stenographer, the 
actor, the home maker, the engineer, the writer, the teacher, 
the lawyer, the doctor, or the minister. 

Maintaining ideals. The schools should assist in making 
these adjustments. The public schools are intended to serve 
the masses for the ends of democracy. Vocational education 
is not merely to be added to our present system of education. 
The existing school system needs gradual renovation from kin- 
dergarten to university, until wise articulation of the vocational 
aim with the disciplinary and cultural aims has been effected. 
In this work of renovation we are ever to have in view the goals 
of ethical idealism as well as the immediate acquisition of skill 
and knowledge. The undertaking is complicated and difficult. 
Programs, courses of study, and curricula, preparation and 
selection of teachers and officials, the choice of sites and plan 
of buildings, the purchase of supplies and equipment, the prob- 
lems of finance, legislation, the study of industries and business, 
occupational analyses and provisions for preliminary research — 
all these topics involve unanswered questions remaining to be 
solved in a courageous and cooperative spirit. 

Summary 

The major subjects of this chapter, each of which merits much 
further study if the student is to acquire skill, as well as apprecia- 



446 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

tion, in the use of psychology appUed to industry, business, and 
education, are these four : 

1. The nature of modern psychology, and the necessity of a 

calm, intelligent appraisal of both its values and its limita- 
tions. The public should discriminate between fraudulent 
practices in the name of psychology by phrenologists, 
physiognomists, clairvoyants, and other charlatans, and 
the work of men and women enrolled in the American 
Psychological Association, or under the National Council 
of Research. 

2. The problem of measuring abilities and traits — in the schools, 

in the army, and in industry, by a procedure more accurate 
than guesswork. Considerable advance has been made 
in these fields by recent experiments with an applied 
psychology utilizing tests of intelligence, rating scales, and 
exposing the fallacy and variability of subjective judg- 
ments. 

3. Other contributions of applied psychology, although it is in 

its infancy, of some significance for vocational education, 
relate to the conservation of mental health, and to economy 
in the learning process. Valuable also are the established 
principles organizing our knowledge of habit formation, 
and demanding trial or experiment rather than debate from 
those who advocate specific methods of instruction. The 
result should eventually give better control of human 
nature for the ends of education and democracy. 

4. Vocation as distinguished from job, drudgery, toil, labor, or 

avocation means life-work. At its best, life-work is the 
chosen activity of an individual adjusted through right 
education meeting opportunity in business or industry or 
profession. However humble or exalted one's place or 
temporary job may be, it becomes a part of his vocation 
and has dignity if only it is in accord with his best capacity 



1. 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 447 

and opportunity and the higher ideals of himself and his 
countrymen. It is the function of a legitimate vocational 
education to assist in this adjustment. 

Problems 

Why has scientific psychology made relatively slow progress 
compared with chemistry or physics? 

2. Indicate the dangers of relying too much upon psychology 

in solving problems of business or industry. 

3. Endeavor to make valid distinctions between the true mean- 

ings of the terms: capacity, trait, ability, instinct, habit. 

4. What is a practical definition of general intelligence? 

5. Write a paper bringing out in succession the purposes and 

methods of (a) trade tests (see Chapter XII), (b) intel- 
ligence tests, (c) rating scales. 

6. Name the five qualities by which officers in the Army were 

rated for promotion. 

7. Explain how each rating officer must first make his scale 

upon the basis of his own acquaintances. 

8. Select an occupation (such as manager of insurance office, 

train master, quarry foreman, conductor on steam rail- 
road, ship captain) and determine after adequate first- 
hand study and conferences the five significant qualities 
for that particular occupation. Then devise a plan of 
scoring for promotion similar to the Army plan of rating 
officers. 

9. Have several persons authorized to recommend for promo- 

tion in that occupation try out your scale, and contrast 
the results with the actual records of the persons scored. 

10. How can you overcome the difficulty of having those who 

use a rating scale agree upon an exact definition or inter^ 
pretation of the qualities or traits to be scored? 

11. Select certain qualities as Intelligence, Honesty, Courage, 

Eefinement, Egotism, Leadership, Cleanliness. Find a 



448 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

class or group of twenty-five persons who know each 
other pretty well. Upon a blank form prepared for the 
purpose, have each person rate both himself and all of the 
others in these qualities on a percentage scale, where 100 
denotes the most possible, and zero denotes none of a 
quaHty. Study the results for variations as concern: (1) 
The persons; (2) the qualities; (3) difference between one's 
scoring of self and of self by others. 

12. Tabulate for a given hard occupation which you may study 

the actual causes of turning work into drudgery, such as : 
Too long hours, speed, unpleasant supervision, lack of 
interest, unsanitary conditions, ill health. 

13. Devise an experiment to keep track of and to chart the prog- 

ress of acquiring skill by daily practice in a given opera- 
tion — as learning to typewrite, or to run a machine. The 
daily practice should be of same duration, at same hour, 
and physical and mental conditions should be kept uni- 
form throughout. Memoranda daily should be made of 
various causes affecting progress. 

14. Returning to the early pages of the first chapter of this book 

review the statements showing that ideals as standards of 
conduct must be developed along with skill and knowl- 
edge, if society is to be freed from misuse of power and 
injustice. 

15. After rapidly reviewing the whole field of vocational educa- 

tion lower than college grade, as discussed in this book, 
single out the most urgent problems inviting intensive, 
further study. 

SELECTED REFERENCES 

1. Army Mental Tests. Methods, typical results and practical applica- 

tions. Washington, D. C, 1918, 23 p. 111. 

2. Bingham, W. V. Army Personnel Work. Journal of Applied Psy- 

chology. March, 1919, pp. 1-12. 



PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO INSTRUCTION 449 

3. Colvin, S. S. and Bagley, W. S. Human Behavior. N. Y., 1913, 336 p. 

4. Dewey, John. Method. In Monroe's Cyclopedia of Education. Vol. 

IV, pp. 202-205. 

5. Fuld, Leonard F. Employment Managers and Bolshevism. Indus- 

trial Management, July, 1919, pp. 73-74. 

6. Goddard, H. H. Psychology of the Normal and Sub-Normal. N. Y., 

8 vs., 1919. 

7. Hill, David S. 

(a) Mental Tests: Nature and Use. School and Home Education. 

February, 1919, pp. 127-130. 
(6) Applications of Intelligence and Other Tests, ibid, April, 1919. 

(c) Results of Intelligence Tests at the University of Illinois. School 

and Society, May 3, 1919. 

(d) Valid Uses of Psychology in the Rehabilitation of War Victims. 

Mental Hygiene, October, 1918, pp. 611-628. 

8. Hollingworth, H. L. Vocational Psychology, Its Problems and Meth- 

ods. N. Y., 1916, 308 p. 

9. James, William. Psychology. Vols. I and II. 1890. See vol. II, 

for habit. 

10. Jastrow, Joseph. Fact and Fable in Psychology. N. Y., 1900, 375 p. 

11. Judd, C. H. Psychology of High School Subjects. Boston, 1915, 

515 p. 

12. Kelly, Roy W. Dangers in Rating Employees. Industrial Manage- 

ment, July, 1919, pp. 35-42. 

13. Lamb, J. P. Intelligence Tests in Industry. Industrial Management, 

July, 1919, pp. 21, 24. 

14. Mann, Charles. A Study of Engineering Education. Carnegie Bulle- 

tin 1918, 130 p. 

15. Measurement of Educational Products. Part II, Seventeenth Year- 

book, Nat. Soc. for the Study of Education 1918, 194 p. (Bibli- 
ography.) 

16. Personnel Management. Topical Outline and Bibliography. January, 

1919. Adjutant General's Office. Washington, D. C, 59 p. 

17. Personnel Work in the United States Army. A summary. Washing- 

ton, D. C. January, 1919, 15 p. Also, 2 vols., 1919. 

18. Pinter, R. and Paterson, D. G. A Scale of Performance Tests. N. Y., 

1917, 218 p. 

19. Pressey, L. L. and L. W. A Group Point Scale for Measuring General 

Intelligence with First Results from 1100 School Children. Jour, 
of Applied Psychology, September, 1918, pp. 250-269. 

20. Psychological Tests. Revised and classified bibliography. Mitchell 



450 INTRODUCTION TO VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

and Ruger. Bureau of Educational Measurements, N. Y., 1918, 
116 p. 

21. Scott, Walter D. 

(a) Selection of Employees by Means of Quantitative Determina- 

tions. Annals of Academy of Political and Social Science, 
May, 1916, 12 p. 
(6) Scientific Selection of Salesmen, in Advertising and Selling, 
N.Y., 1917, 6 p. (reprint). 

22. Stern, W. The Psychological Methods of Testing Intelligence (tr. 

Whipple). Baltimore, 1914, 160 p. 

23. Suzzalo, H. Principles of Teaching, in Monroe's Cycl. of Education, 

vol. V, pp. 533-544. 

24. Terman, L. M. 

(o) The Measurement of Intelligence. Boston, 1916, 362 p. 

(b) The Use of Intelligence Tests in the Army. Psychological 

Bulletin, June, 1918, pp. 177-187. 

25. Thorndike, Edward L. 

(a) Individual Differences. Psychological Bulletin, May, 1918, 

pp. 148-159. 

(b) Tests of Intelligence; Reliability, Significance, Susceptibility 

to Special Training and Adaptation to the General Nature of 
the Task. School and Society, February 15, 1919, pp. 189- 
195. 

26. Whipple, Guy M. 

(a) What Superintendents and Other School Administrators Ought 

to Know of Educational Measurement. Michigan School- 
master's Club Journal, March, 1918, 12 p. 

(b) A Manual of Mental and Physical Tests. Vols. I and II, Balti- 

more, 1914. 

27. Walhn, J. E. W. Problems of Subnormality. World Book Co., 1917. 

485 p. 

28. Walton, Geo. L., M. D. Why Worry? N. Y., 1916, 275 p. 

29. Yerkes, R. M. 

(a) Introduction to Psychology. N. Y., 1911, 427 p. 
(fe) The Measurement and Utilization of Brain Power in the Army. 
Science. March 7, 1919, pp. 221-226. 

30. Yerkes, R. M., Bridges, J. W., and Hardwick, R. S. A Point Scale 

for Measuring Ability. Baltimore, 1915, 218 p. 



APPENDIX 

Smith-Hughes Act of Congress (Senate Bill 703, 1917) 
Smith-Sear Act of Congress (Senate Bill 4557, 1918) 

[Public — No. 347 — 64th Congress.] 

[S. 703.] 

An Act To provide for the promotion of vocational edu- 
cation; to provide for cooperation with the States in the promotion of such 
education in agriculture and the trades and industries; to provide for co- 
operation with the States in the preparation of teachers of vocational sub- 
jects; and to appropriate money and regulate its expenditure. 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That there is hereby annually 
appropriated, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise ap- 
propriated, the sums provided in sections two, three, and four of this 
Act, to be paid to the respective States for the purpose of cooperating 
with the States in paying the salaries of teachers, supervisors, and 
directors of agricultural subjects, and teachers of trade, home eco- 
nomics, and industrial subjects, and in the preparation of teachers 
of agricultural, trade, industrial, and home economics subjects; and 
the sum provided for in section seven for the use of the Federal Board 
for Vocational Education for the administration of this Act and for 
the purpose of making studies, investigations, and reports to aid in 
the organization and conduct of vocational education, which sums 
shall be expended as hereinafter provided. 

Sec. 2. That for the purpose of cooperating with the States in 
paying the salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricul- 
tural subjects there is hereby appropriated for the use of the States, 
subject to the provisions of this Act, for the fiscal year ending June 
thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, the sum of $500,000; for 
the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, 

451 



452 APPENDIX 

the sum of $750,000; for the fiscal year endmg June thirtieth, nine- 
teen hundred and twenty, the sum of $1,000,000; for the fiscal year 
ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, the sum of 
$1,250,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hun- 
dred and twenty-two, the sum of $1,500,000; for the fiscal year end- 
ing June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, the sum of 
$1,750,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred 
and twenty-four, the sum of $2,000,000; for the fiscal year ending 
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, the sum of $2,500,- 
000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and 
twenty-six, and annually thereafter, the sum of $3,000,000. Said 
sums shall be allotted to the States in the proportion which their 
rural population bears to the total rural population in the United 
States, not including outlying possessions, according to the last pre- 
ceding United States census: Provided, That the allotment of funds 
to any State shall be not less than a minimum of $5,000 for any fiscal 
year prior to and including the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nine- 
teen hundred and twenty-three, nor less than $10,000 for any fiscal 
year thereafter, and there is hereby appropriated the following sums, 
or so much thereof as may be necessary, which shall be used for the 
purpose of providing the minimum allotment to the States provided 
for in this section: For the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen 
hundred and eighteen, the sum of $48,000; for the fiscal year ending 
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, the sum of $34,000; 
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty, 
the sum of $24,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen 
hundred and twenty-one, the sum of $18,000; for the fiscal year end- 
ing June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, the sum of 
$14,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred 
and twenty-three, the sum of $11,000; for the fiscal year ending June 
thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, the sum of $9,000; for 
the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty- 
five, the sum of $34,000; and annually thereafter the sum of 
$27,000. 

Sec. 3. That for the purpose of cooperating with the States in 
paying the salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, and indus- 
trial subjects there is hereby appropriated for the use of the States, 



APPENDIX 453 

for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eight- 
een, the sum of $500,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
nineteen hundred and nineteen, the sum of $750,000; for the fiscal 
year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty, the sum 
of $1,000,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hun- 
dred and twenty-one, the sum of $1,250,000; for the fiscal year ending 
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-two, the sum of $1,500,- 
000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and 
twenty-three, the sum of $1,750,000; for the fiscal year ending June 
thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-four, the sum of $2,000,000; 
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty- 
five, the sum of $2,500,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, 
nineteen hundred and twenty-six, the sum of $3,000,000; and annually 
thereafter the sum of $3,000,000. Said sums shall be allotted to the 
States in the proportion which their urban population bears to the 
total urban population in the United States, not including outlying 
possessions, according to the last preceding United States census: 
Provided, That the allotment of funds to any State shall be not less 
than a minimum of $5,000 for any fiscal year prior to and including the 
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, 
nor less than $10,000 for any fiscal year thereafter, and there is hereby 
appropriated the following sums, or so much thereof as may be needed, 
which shall be used for the purpose of providing the minimum allot- 
ment to the States provided for in this section: For the fiscal year 
ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, the sum of 
$66,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred 
and nineteen, the sum of $46,000; for the fiscal year ending June 
thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty, the sum of $34,000; for the 
fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, 
the sum of $28,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen 
hundred and twenty-two, the sum of $25,000; for the fiscal year 
ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-three, the sum 
of $22,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hun- 
dred and twenty-four, the sum of $19,000; for the fiscal year ending 
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-five, the sum of $56,000; 
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty- 
six, and annually thereafter, the sum of $50,000. 



454 APPENDIX 

That not more than twenty per centum of the money appropriated 
under this Act for the payment of salaries of teachers of trade, home 
economics, and industrial subjects, for any year, shall be expended 
for the salaries of teachers of home economics subjects. 

Sec. 4. That for the purpose of cooperating with the States in 
preparing teachers, supervisors, and directors of agricultural subjects 
and teachers of trade and industrial and home economics subjects 
there is hereby appropriated for the use of the States for the fiscal 
year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, the sum 
of $500,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hun- 
dred and nineteen, the sum of 1700,000; for the fiscal year ending 
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty, the sum of S900,000; 
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty- 
one, and annually thereafter, the sum of $1,000,000. Said sums shall 
be allotted to the States in the proportion which their population bears 
to the total population of the United States, not including outlying 
possessions, according to the last preceding United States census: 
Provided, That the allotment of funds to any State shall be not less 
than a minimum of $5,000 for any fiscal year prior to and including 
the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nineteen, 
nor less than $10,000 for any fiscal year thereafter. And there is 
hereby appropriated the following sums, or so much thereof as may 
be needed, which shall be used for the purpose of providing the mini- 
mum allotment provided for in this section: For the fiscal year ending 
June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and eighteen, the sum of $46,000; 
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and nine- 
teen, the sum of $32,000; for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nine- 
teen hundred and twenty, the sum of $24,000; for the fiscal year end- 
ing June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and twenty-one, and annually 
thereafter, the sum of $90,000. 

Sec. 5. That in order to secure the benefits of the appropriations 
provided for in sections two, three, and four of this Act, any State 
shall, through the legislative authority thereof, accept the provisions 
of this Act and designate or create a State Board, consisting of not 
less than three members, and having all necessary power to cooperate, 
as herein provided, with the Federal Board for Vocational Education 
in the administration of the provisions of this Act. The State Board 



APPENDIX 455 

of education, or other board having charge of the administration of 
pubhc education in the State, or any State board having charge of 
the administration of any kind of vocational education in the State 
may, if the State so elect, be designated as the State Board, for the 
purposes of this Act. 

In any State the legislature of which does not meet in nineteen 
hundred and seventeen, if the governor of that State, so far as he is 
authorized to do so, shall accept the provisions of this Act and desig- 
nate or create a State board of not less than three members to act 
in cooperation with the Federal Board for Vocational Education, the 
Federal Board shall recognize such local board for the purposes of 
this Act until the legislature of such State meets in due course and 
has been in session sixty days. 

Any State may accept the benefits of any one or more of the re- 
spective funds herein appropriated, and it may defer the acceptance 
of the benefits of any one or more of such funds, and shall be required 
to meet only the conditions relative to the fund or funds the benefits 
of which it has accepted: Provided, That after June thirtieth, nineteen 
hundred and twenty, no State shall receive any appropriation for 
salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural subjects, 
until it shall have taken advantage of at least the minimum amount 
appropriated for the training of teachers, supervisors, or directors of 
agricultural subjects, as provided for in this Act, and that after said 
date no State shall receive any appropriation for the salaries of teachers 
of trade, home economics, and industrial subjects until it shall have 
taken advantage of at least the minimum amount appropriated for 
the training of teachers of trade, home economics, and industrial sub- 
jects, as provided for in this Act. 

Sec. 6. That a Federal Board for Vocational Education is hereby 
created, to consist of the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of 
Commerce, the Secretary of Labor, the United States Commissioner 
of Education, and three citizens of the United States to be appointed 
by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 
One of said three citizens shall be a representative of the manufac- 
turing and commercial interests, one a representative of the agricul- 
tural interests, and one a representative of labor. The Board shall 
elect annually one of its members as chairman. In the first instance, 



456 APPENDIX 

one of the citizen members shall be appointed for one year, one for 
two years, and one for three years, and thereafter for three years 
each. The members of the Board other than the members of the 
Cabinet and the United States Commissioner of Education shall 
receive a salary of $5,000 per annum. 

The Board shall have power to cooperate with State boards in 
carrying out the provisions of this Act. It shall be the duty of the 
Federal Board for Vocational Education to make, or cause to have 
made studies, investigations, and reports, with particular reference 
to their use in aiding the States in the establishment of vocational 
schools and classes and in giving instruction in agriculture, trades 
and industries, commerce and commercial pursuits, and home eco- 
nomics. Such studies, investigations, and reports shall include agri- 
culture and agricultural processes and requirements upon agricultural 
workers; trades, industries, and apprenticeships, trade and industrial 
requirements upon industrial workers, and classification of industrial 
processes and pursuits; commerce and commercial pursuits and re- 
quirements upon commercial workers; home management, domestic 
science, and the study of related facts and principles; and problems 
of administration of vocational schools and of courses of study and 
instruction in vocational subjects. 

When the Board deems it advisable such studies, investigations, 
and reports concerning agriculture, for the purposes of agricultural 
education, may be made in cooperation with or through the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture; such studies, investigations, and reports con- 
cerning trades and industries, for the purposes of trade and industrial 
education, may be made in cooperation with or through the Depart- 
ment of Labor; such studies, investigations, and reports concerning 
commerce and commercial pursuits, for the purposes of commercial 
education, may be made in cooperation with or through the Depart- 
ment of Commerce; such studies, investigations, and reports con- 
cerning the administration of vocational schools, courses of study 
and instruction in vocational subjects, may be made in cooperation 
with or through the Bureau of Education. 

The Commissioner of Education may make such recommendations 
to the board relative to the administration of this Act as he may from 
time to time deem advisable. It shall be the duty of the chairman 



APPENDIX 457 

of the Board to carry out the rules, regulations, and decisions which 
the board may adopt. The Federal Board for Vocational Education 
shall haA^e power to employ such assistants as may be necessary to 
carry out the provisions of this Act. 

Sec. 7. That there is hereby appropriated to the Federal Board 
for Vocational Education the sum of $200,000 annually, to be avail- 
able from and after the passage of this Act, for the purpose of making 
or cooperating in making the studies, investigations, and reports pro- 
vided for in section six of this Act, and for the purpose of paying the 
salaries of the officers, the assistants, and such office and other ex- 
penses as the board may deem necessary to the execution and admin- 
istration of this Act. 

Sec. 8. That in order to secure the benefits of the appropriation for 
any purpose specified in this Act, the State Board shall prepare plans, 
showing the kinds of vocational education for which it is proposed that 
the appropriation shall be used; the kinds of schools and equipment; 
courses of study; methods of instruction; qualifications of teachers; 
and, in the case of agricultural subjects the qualifications of super- 
visors or directors; plans for the training of teachers; and, in the case 
of agricultural subjects, plans for the supervision of agricultural edu- 
cation, as provided for in section ten. Such plans shall be submitted 
by the State Board to the Federal Board for Vocational Education, 
and if the Federal Board finds the same to be in conformity with the 
provisions and purposes of this Act, the same shall be approved. The 
State Board shall make an annual report to the Federal Board for 
Vocational Education, on or before September first of each year, on 
the work done in the State and the receipts and expenditures of money 
under the provisions of this Act. 

Sec. 9. That the appropriation for the salaries of teachers, super- 
visors, or directors of agricultural subjects and of teachers of trade, 
home economics, and industrial subjects shall be devoted exclusively 
to the payment of salaries of such teachers, supervisors, or directors 
having the minimum qualifications set up for the State by the State 
Board, with the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Edu- 
cation. The cost of instruction supplementary to the instruction in 
agricultural and in trade, home economics, and industrial subjects 
provided for in this Act, necessary to build a well-rounded course of 



458 APPENDIX 

training, shall be borne by the State and local communities, and no 
part of the cost thereof shall be borne out of the appropriations herein 
made. The moneys expended under the provisions of this Act, in 
cooperation with the States, for the salaries of teachers, supervisors, 
or directors of agricultural subjects, or for the salaries of teachers of 
trade, home economics, and industrial subjects, shall be conditioned 
that for each dollar of Federal money expended for such salaries the 
State or local community, or both, shall expend an equal amount for 
such salaries; and that appropriations for the training of teachers of 
vocational subjects, as herein provided, shall be conditioned that such 
money be expended for maintenance of such training and that for 
each dollar of Federal money so expended for maintenance, the State 
or local community, or both, shall expend an equal amount for the 
maintenance of such training. 

Sec. 10. That any State may use the appropriation for agricultural 
purposes, or any part thereof allotted to it, under the provisions of this 
Act, for the salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural 
subjects, either for the salaries of teachers of such subjects in schools 
or classes or for the salaries of supervisors or directors of such subjects 
under a plan of supervision for the State to be set up by the State 
board, with the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Educa- 
tion. That in order to receive the benefits of such appropriation for 
the salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural sub- 
jects the State Board of any State shall provide in its plan for agri- 
cultural education that such education shall be that which is under 
public supervision or control; that the controlling purpose of such 
education shall be to fit for useful employment; that such education 
shall be of less than college grade and be designed to meet the needs 
of persons over fourteen years of age who have entered upon or who 
are preparing to enter upon the work of the farm or of the farm home; 
that the State or local community, or both, shall provide the neces- 
sary plant and equipment determined upon by the State Board, with 
the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Education, as the 
minimum requirement for such education in schools and classes in 
the State; that the amount expended for the maintenance of such 
education in any school or class receiving the benefit of such appro- 
priation shall be not less annually than the amount fixed by the State 



APPENDIX 459 

Board, with the approval of the Federal Board as the minimum for 
such schools or classes in the State; that such schools shall provide 
for directed or supervised practice in agriculture, either on a farm 
provided for by the school or other farm, for at least six months per 
year; that the teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural sub- 
jects shall have at least the minimum qualifications determined for 
the State by the State Board, with the approval of the Federal Board 
for Vocational Education. 

Sec. 11. That in order to receive the benefits of the appropria- 
tion for the salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, and indus- 
trial subjects the State Board of any State shall provide in its plan 
for trade, home economics, and industrial education that such edu- 
cation shall be given in schools or classes under public supervision 
or control; that the controlling purpose of such education shall be 
to fit for useful employment; that such education shall be of less 
than college grade and shall be designed to meet the needs of per- 
sons over fourteen years of age who are preparing for a trade or in- 
dustrial pursuit or who have entered upon the work of a trade or 
industrial pursuit; that the State or local community, or both; shall 
provide the necessary plant and equipment determined upon by the 
State Board, with the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational 
Education, as the minimum requirement in such State for education 
for any given trade or industrial pursuit; that the total amount ex- 
pended for the maintenance of such education in any school or class 
receiving the benefit of such appropriation shall be not less annually 
than the amount fixed by the State Board, with the approval of the 
Federal Board, as the minimum for such schools or classes in the State; 
that such schools or classes giving instruction to persons who have 
not entered upon employment shall require that at least half of the 
time of such instruction be given to practical work on a useful or 
productive basis, such instruction to extend over not less than nine 
months per year and not less than thirty hours per week; that at least 
one-third of the sum appropriated to any State for the salaries of 
teachers of trade, home economics, and industrial subjects shall, if ex- 
pended, be applied to part-time schools or classes for workers over four- 
teen years of age who have entered upon employment, and such sub- 
jects in a part-time school or class may mean any subject given to 



460 APPENDIX 

enlarge the civic or vocational intelligence of such workers over four- 
teen and less than eighteen years of age; that such part-time schools 
or classes shall provide for not less than one hundred and forty-four 
hours of classroom instruction per year; that evening industrial schools 
shall fix the age of sixteen years as a minimum entrance requirement 
and shall confine instruction to that which is supplemental to the 
daily employment; that the teachers of any trade or industrial subject 
in any State shall have at least the minimum qualifications for teachers 
of such subject determined upon for such State by the State Board, with 
the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Education : Provided, 
That for cities and towns of less than twenty-five thousand popula- 
tion, according to the last preceding United States census, the State 
Board, with the approval of the Federal Board for Vocational Edu- 
cation, may modify the conditions as to the length of course and hours 
of instruction per week for schools and classes giving instruction to 
those who have not entered upon employment, in order to meet the 
particular needs of such cities and towns. 

Sec. 12. That in order for any State to receive the benefits of the 
appropriation in this Act for the training of teachers, supervisors, or 
directors of agricultural subjects, or of teachers of trade, industrial or 
home economics subjects, the State Board of such State shall provide 
in its plan for such training that the same shall be carried out under 
the supervision of the State Board; that such training shall be given in 
schools or classes under public supervision or control; that such train- 
ing shall be given only to persons who have had adequate vocational 
experience or contact in the line of work for which they are preparing 
themselves as teachers, supervisors, or directors, or who are acquiring 
such experience or contact as a part of their training; and that the 
State Board, with the approval of the Federal Board, shall establish 
minimum requirements for such experience or contact for teachers, 
supervisors, or directors of agricultural subjects and for teachers of 
trade, industrial, and home economics subjects; that not more than 
sixty per centum nor less than twenty per centum of the money appro- 
priated under this Act for the training of teachers of vocational sub- 
jects to any State for any year shall be expended for any one of the 
following purposes: For the preparation of teachers, supervisors, or 
directors of agricultural subjects, or the preparation of teachers of 



APPENDIX 461 

trade and industrial subjects, or the preparation of teachers of home 
economics subjects. 

Sec. 13. That in order to secure the benefits of the appropriations 
for the salaries of teachers, supervisors, or directors of agricultural 
subjects, or for the salaries of teachers of trade, home economics, and 
industrial subjects, or for the training of teachers as herein provided, 
any State shall, through the legislative authority thereof, appoint as 
custodian for said appropriations its State treasurer, who shall receive 
and provide for the proper custody and disbursements of all money 
paid to the State from said appropriations. 

Sec. 14. That the Federal Board for Vocational Education shall 
annually ascertain whether the several States are using, or are pre- 
pared to use, the money received by them in accordance with the pro- 
visions of this Act. On or before the first day of January of each year 
the Federal Board for Vocational Education shall certify to the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury each State which has accepted the provisions 
of this Act and complied therewith, certifying the amounts which each 
State is entitled to receive under the provisions of this Act. Upon 
such certification the Secretary of the Treasury shall pay quarterly to 
the custodian for vocational education of each State the moneys to 
which it is entitled under the provisions of this Act. The moneys so 
received by the custodian for vocational education for any State shall 
be paid out on the requisition of the State Board as reimbursement for 
expenditures already incurred to such schools as are approved by said 
State Board and are entitled to receive such moneys under the provi- 
sions of this Act. 

Sec. 15. That whenever any portion of the fund annually allotted to 
any State has not been expended for the purpose provided for in this 
Act, a sum equal to such portion shall be deducted by the Federal 
Board from the next succeeding annual allotment from such fund to 
such State. 

Sec. 16. That the Federal Board for Vocational Education may 
withhold the allotment of moneys to any State whenever it shall be 
determined that such moneys are not being expended for the purposes 
and under the conditions of this Act. 

If any allotment is withheld from any State, the State Board of such 
State may appeal to the Congress of the United States, and if the Con- 



462 APPENDIX 

gress shall not direct such sum to be paid it shall be covered into the 
Treasury. 

Sec. 17. That if any portion of the moneys received by the custo- 
dian for vocational education of any State under this Act, for any 
given purpose named in this Act, shall, by any action or contingency, 
be diminished or lost, it shall be replaced by such State, and until so 
replaced no subsequent appropriation for such education shall be paid 
to such State. No portion of any moneys appropriated under this Act 
for the benefit of the States shall be applied, directly or indirectly, to 
the purchase, erection, preservation, or repair of any building or build- 
ings or equipment, or for the purchase or rental of lands, or for the 
support of any religious or privately owned or conducted school or 
college. 

Sec. 18. That the Federal Board for Vocational Education shall 
make an annual report to Congress, on or before December first, on the 
administration of this Act and shall include in such report the reports 
made by the State Boards on the administration of this Act by each 
State and the expenditure of the money allotted to each State. 

Approved, February 23, 1917. 

[Public — No. 178 — 65th Congress.] 

[S. 4557.] 

An Act To provide for vocational rehabilitation and 
return to civil employment of disabled persons discharged from the mili- 
tary or naval forces of the United States, and for other purposes. 

Be it enacted hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act shall be known 
as the Vocational Rehabilitation Act. That the word "board," as 
hereinafter used in this Act, shall mean the "Federal Board for Voca- 
tional Education." That the word "bureau," as hereinafter used in 
this Act, shall mean the "Bureau of War-Risk Insurance." 

Sec. 2. That every person who is disabled under circumstances 
entitling him, after discharge from the military or naval forces of 
the United States, to compensation under Article III of the Act en- 
titled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to authorize the 
establishment of a Bureau of War-Risk Insurance in the Treasury 



APPENDIX 463 

Department/" approved October sixth, nineteen hundred and seven- 
teen, hereinafter referred to as "said Act," and who, after his dis- 
charge, in the opinion of the board, is unable to carry on a gainful 
occupation, to resume his former occupation, or to enter upon some 
other occupation, or having resumed or entered upon such occupation 
is unable to continue the same successfully, shall be furnished by 
the said board, where vocational rehabilitation is feasible, such course 
of vocational rehabilitation as the Board shall prescribe and provide. 

The Board shall have power, and it shall be its duty, to furnish 
the persons included in this section suitable courses of vocational 
rehabilitation to be prescribed and provided by the Board, and every 
person electing to follow such a course of vocational rehabilitation 
shall, while following the same, receive monthly compensation equal 
to the amount of his monthly pay for the last month of his active 
service, or equal to the amount to which he would be entitled under 
Article III of said Act, whichever amount is the greater. If such 
person was an enlisted man at the time of his discharge, for the period 
during which he is so afforded a course of rehabihtation, his family 
shall receive compulsory allotment and family allowance according 
to the terms of Article II of said Act in the same manner as if he were 
an enlisted man, and for the purpose of computing and paying com- 
pulsory allotment and family allowance his compensation shall be 
treated as his monthly pay: Provided, That if such person willfully 
fails or refuses or follow the prescribed course of vocational rehabili- 
tation which he has elected to follow, in a manner satisfactory to the 
Board, the said Board in its discretion may certify to that effect to 
the Bureau and the said Bureau shall, during such period of failure 
or refusal, withhold any part or all of the monthly copmensation due 
such person and not subject to compulsory allotment which the said 
Board may have determined should be withheld: Provided, however, 
That no vocational teaching shall be carried on in any hospital until 
the medical authorities certify that the condition of the patient is 
such as to justify such teaching. 

The military and naval family allowance appropriation provided 
for in section eighteen of said Act shall be available for the payment 
of the family allowances provided by this section; and the military 
and naval compensation appropriation provided for in section nine- 



464 APPENDIX 

teen of said Act shall be available for the payment of the monthly 
compensation herein provided. No compensation under Article III 
of said Act shall be paid for the period during which any such person 
is furnished by said board a course of vocational rehabilitation except 
as is hereinbefore provided. 

Sec. 3. That the courses of vocational rehabilitation provided for 
under this Act shall, as far as practicable and under such conditions 
as the board may prescribe, be made available without cost for instruc- 
tion for the benefit of any person who fe disabled under circumstances 
entitUng him, after discharge from the military or naval forces of 
the United States, to compensation under Article III of said Act 
and who is not included in section two hereof. 

Sec. 4. That the Board shall have the power and it shall be its 
duty to provide such facilities, instructors, and courses as may be 
necessary to insure proper training for such persons as are required 
to follow such courses as herein provided; to prescribe the courses 
to be followed by such persons; to pay, when in the discretion of 
the Board such payment is necessary, the expense of travel, lodging, 
subsistence, and other necessary expenses of such persons while fol- 
lowing the prescribed courses; to do all things necessary to insure 
vocational rehabilitation; to provide for the placement of rehabilitated 
persons in suitable or gainful occupations. The Board shall have the 
power to make such rules and regulations as may be necessary for 
the proper performance of its duties as prescribed by this Act, and 
is hereby authorized and directed to utilize, with the approval of 
the Secretary of Labor, the facilities of the Department of Labor, 
in so far as may be practicable, in the placement of rehabilitated 
persons in suitable or gainful occupations. 

Sec. 5. That it shall also be the duty of the Board to make or cause 
to have made studies, investigations, and reports regarding the voca- 
tional rehabilitation of disabled persons and their placement in suit- 
able or gainful occupations. When the Board deems it advisable, 
such studies, investigations, and reports may be made in cooperation 
with or through other departments and bureaus of the Government, 
and the Board in its discretion may cooperate with such public or 
private agencies as it may deem advisable in performing the duties 
imposed upon it by this Act. 



APPENDIX 465 

Sec. 6. That all medical and surgical work or other treatment 
necessary to give functional and mental restoration to disabled per- 
sons prior to their discharge from the mihtary or naval forces of the 
United States shall be under the control of the War Department 
and the Navy Department, respectively. Whenever training is em- 
ployed as a therapeutic measure by the War Department or the Navy 
Department a plan may be established between these agencies and 
the Board acting in an advisory capacity to insure, in so far as medical 
requirements permit, a proper process of training and the proper prep- 
aration of instructors for such training. A plan may also be estab- 
lished between the War and Navy Departments and the Board whereby 
these departments shall act in an advisory capacity with the board in 
the care of the health of the soldier and sailor after his discharge. 

The Board shall, in establishing its plans and rules and regulations 
for vocational training, cooperate with the War Department and the 
Navy Department in so far as may be necessary to effect a continuous 
process of vocational training. 

Sec. 7. That the Board is hereby authorized and empowered to 
receive such gifts and donations from either public or private sources 
as may be offered unconditionally. All moneys received as gifts or 
donations shall be paid into the Treasury of the United States, and 
shall constitute a permanent fund, to be called the "Special fund for 
vocational rehabilitation," to be used under the direction of the said 
board, in connection with the appropriations hereby made or here- 
after to be made, to defray the expenses of providing and maintaining 
courses of vocational rehabilitation; and a full report of all gifts and 
donations offered and accepted, and all disbursements therefrom, 
shall be submitted annually to Congress by said Board. 

Sec. 8. That there is hereby appropriated, out of any money in the 
Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, available 
immediately and until expended, the sum of $2,000,000 or so much 
thereof as may be necessary to be used by the Federal Board for 
Vocational Education for the purposes of this Act, to wit, for renting 
and remodehng buildings and quarters, repairing, maintaining, and 
equipping same, and for equipment and other facilities necessary 
for proper instruction of disabled persons, $250,000; for the prepara- 
tion of instructors and salaries of instructors, supervisors, and other 



466 APPENDIX 

experts, including necessary traveling expenses, $545,000; for travel- 
ing expenses of disabled persons in connection with training and for 
lodging, subsistence, and other necessary expenses in special cases 
of persons following prescribed courses, $250,000; for tuition for 
disabled persons pursuing courses in existing institutions, public or 
private, $545,000; for the placement and supervision after placement 
of vocationally rehabilitated persons, $45,000; for studies, investiga- 
tions, reports, and preparation of special courses of instruction, $55,- 
000; for miscellaneous contingencies, including special mechanical ap- 
pliances necessary in special cases for disabled men, $110,000; and for 
the administrative expenses of said Board incident to performing the 
duties imposed by this Act, including salaries of such assistants, ex- 
perts, clerks, and other employees in the District of Columbia or else- 
where as the Board may deem necessary, actual traveling and other 
necessary expenses incurred by the members of the Board and by its 
employees under its orders, including attendance at meetings of edu- 
cational associations and other organizations, rent and equipment of 
offices in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, purchase of books 
of reference, law books, and periodicals, stationery, typewriters and 
exchange thereof, miscellaneous supplies, postage on foreign mail, 
printing and binding to be done at the Government Printing Office, and 
all other necessary expenses, $200,000. 

Sec. 9. That said Board shall file with the Clerk of the House and 
the Secretary of the Senate on July first and every three months 
thereafter, for the information of the Congress, an itemized account 
of all expenditures made under this Act, including names and salaries 
of employees. Said Board shall also make an annual report to the 
Congress of its doings under this Act on or before December first 
of each year. 

Sec. 10. That section three hundred and four of the Act entitled 
"An Act to authorize the establishment of a Bureau of War Risk 
Insurance in the Treasury Department" approved September sec- 
ond, nineteen hundred and fourteen, as amended, is hereby repealed. 

Sec. 11. No person of draft age physically fit for military service 
shall be exempted from such service on account of being employed 
under the terms of this Act. 

Approved June 27, 1918. 



INDEX 



Abilities, measurement of, 423-435. 
See Tests. 

Accidents in industrial schools, 288- 
290. 

Accoxmtant, description of occupa- 
tion of, 311-312. 

Achievement tests in schools, 
405. 

Adams Act, the (1906), 151. 

Adaptability, as a supposed aim of 
liberal education, 41. 

Adjustment of education to popula- 
tion groups, efforts at, 87-88. 

Adolescence, studies of, in relation 
to education of girls, 351-352. 

Adult illiteracy, importance of re- 
moving, 108. 

Advertising manager, occupation of, 
312. 

Age, distribution of workers ac- 
cording to, 73. 

Age-grade maladjustment, voca- 
tional education not a remedy for, 
82-83. 

Age of pupils, questions which arise 
about, 73-83. 

Agricultural arts education, 49, 193. 

Agricultural colleges, legislative 
measures providing for, 149-152; 
statistics of income of, 152-153, 
154. 

Agricultural education, 47; defini- 
tion of vocational, 49; problems 
in, 192ff.; defined, 193; elemen- 



tary, 193-200; secondary instruc- 
tion in, 201-206; study and 
teaching vs. practice of agricul- 
ture, 206-208; applications of 
Smith-Hughes Act to, 211-217; 
preparation of teachers for, 217- 
219; project method in, 220; in 
philanthropic and other institu- 
tions, 224-228; specimen course 
in, 224-226; improvement of rural 
life through, 228-229. 

Agricultural-Extension Act (1914), 
149; (Smith-Lever), 151-152. 

Agricultural workers, statistics of, 
in tabular form, 194. 

Agriculture, Department of, farm 
bulletins published by, 365. 

Aim, as a principle of educational 
practice, 440. 

Alaska, educational work in, 15; 
statistics of schools in, 84; Fed- 
eral government's support of 
education in, 156. 

Allen, Charles R., contribution of, 
to pedagogy of instruction in 
trade processes, 296-300. 

Allotments to States, under Smith- 
Hughes Act, 184-186. 

American Psychological Associa- 
tion, high standard maintained 
by, 422. 

Amos Tuck School of Administra- 
tion and Finance, Dartmouth 
College, 332. 



467 



468 



INDEX 



Antwerp, early commercial school 
at, 321. 

Apperception, as a principle of 
educational practice, 440. 

Apprenticeship, vocational training 
as a supplement to, 98. 

Apprenticeship schools, 258-259. 

Apprenticeship system, ancient, 
127-129; economic changes vs., 
132-134; survival of, in some 
corporation schools, 144. 

Arguments for vocational educa- 
tion, statement of, 95-102. 

Armsby, H. P., a supporter of cause 
of agricultural education, 229. 

Army, intelligence tests in, 399, 425; 
method of rating officers in, 433- 
435. 

Arts, stories of loss of precious, 129- 
132. 

Attendance at school, regularity of, 
27. 

Attitudes, relation between ideals 
and, 24. 

Australia, agricultural education in, 
195. 

Austria, agricultural schools in, 195. 

Autocracy, fostering of, by German 
educational system, 52, 53; sys- 
tem tending to develop, not to be 
tolerated in America, 54. 

Avocation, vocation distinguished 
from, 441-444. 

Ayres, L. P., studies of city school 
systems by, 65; studies of elimina- 
tion by, 75. 

Bagley, W. C, 21, 219; view of 
vocational education held by, 41 ; 
threefold law of habit-building as 
stated by, 438, 



Bailey, L. H., 229. 

Baldwin, B. T., 62. 

Bartlett, R. M., pioneer in com- 
mercial education, 322. 

Bawden, W. T., defense of voca- 
tional education by, 103-104; 
quoted on Smith-Hughes Act, 
182, 184; Biennial Survey (1917- 
18) by, quoted, 186-187. 

Beal, W. J., 229. 

Belgium, elementary agricultural 
instruction in, 194; commercial 
education in, 321. 

Bennett, James, early commercial 
school conducted by, 322. 

Bigelow, C. M., chart by, 409. 

Binet, Alfred, value of work of, 
438. 

Biological adaptation, a factor for 
consideration in introducing spe- 
cialized vocational training, 104- 
105. 

Blair, J. C, 229. 

Book, Professor, investigations by, 
of causes of elimination, 78. 

Boston Trades School for Girls, 373. 

Boys' agricultural clubs, 195. 

Briggs, T. H., cited concerning 
elimination, 77. 

Brotherhood, as an educational 
ideal, 46. 

Brown, Chancellor E. E., 333. 

Bryant and Stratton business 
school, 323. 

Buchanan, President, veto of first 
Morrill Act by, 148-149. 

Burnett, E. A., 229. 

Business administration, 316; divi- 
sions of, 316-317. 

Business and commerce, education 
for, 308-345. 



INDEX 



469 



Business investment, vocational 

training as a, 99-100. 
Business schools, development of, 

320-324; private, 330-331. 
Butterfield, President, report of, on 

agricultural education, cited, 208- 

210. 

Canada, rehabilitation of disabled 
soldiers in, 113; decay of appren- 
ticeship system in, 133; agricul- 
tural education in, 194; farming 
by disabled soldiers in, 224. 

Card-punching-machine operator, 
occupation of, 312. 

Carnegie Foundation for Advance- 
ment of Teaching, 404; criticism 
of Smith-Hughes Act in Bulletin 
of, 175-177. 

Carnegie Institute of Technology, 
Pittsburgh, 143. 

Carnegie Technical Schools, Pitts- 
burgh, 263. 

Carris, Lewis H., tabulation by, 
287-288; cited, 290. 

Children's Village, New York, 111. 

Cincinnati, part-time system of 
schools in, 254. 

Cincinnati, University of, industrial 
teacher-training at, 301. 

City boys, agriculture for, 198-200. 

Classification of human types, 64. 

Claxton, P. P., school gardens ad- 
vocated by, 198; on home-making 
as a vocation for women, 356- 
357. 

Cleveland, Ohio, studies of persist- 
ence and elimination in, 75-76; 
men and women workers in, 309- 
310. 

Cleveland Survey, 408-409; scope 



of modern educational survey 
shown by, 411. 

Cleveland Survey of Education and 
Occupations of Cripples, cited, 
113. 

Colleges, agricultural, 195; enroll- 
ment in agricultural and me- 
chanics arts, 207; correspondence 
courses in, 271 ; industrial teacher- 
training courses in, 301-302; 
commercial education in, 331- 
332. 

Columbia University, training of 
vocational teachers at, 302. 

Comer, George N., pioneer in com- 
mercial education, 323. 

Commercial arts education, scope 
of term, 326. 

Commercial education, 47; a defini- 
tion of, 49; development of, 320- 
324; terminology in, 324-326; 
elementary, 327-328; secondary, 
328-330; in private commercial 
schools, 330-331; contemporary 
tendencies in, 332-344; Federal 
aid for, 344-345. 

Commercial occupations, workers 
in, 308-309. 

Commercial schools, enrollment in, 
324. See Business schools. 

Concentration, as a principle of 
educational practice, 440. 

Consumption, liberal education con- 
ceived as education for, 40. 

Continuation schools, defined, 50; 
in German system of education, 
52-53; privately controlled, 258- 
259; in England, 320-321; for 
industrial workers, 254-258. 

Control, desirability of single, in 
system of education, 21-22. 



470 



INDEX 



Cooperation, in education in a 
democracy, 14— 15; in agricultural 
education, 152; account of devel- 
opment of Federal, 167-187. 

Corporations, schools maintained 
by, 143-145. 

Correspondence, vocational instruc- 
tion by, 270-271. 

Cost of living, vocational training a 
means of offsetting increased, 99. 

Cost-record systems, study of, in 
industrial schools, 287. 

Courses of study in agricultural 
schools, 205-206. 

Crane, Frank, article by, quoted, 
35-37. 

Credit man, occupation of, 312-313. 

Crime, and vocational education, 
109-112. 

Cromwell, A. D., cited on agricul- 
tural education, 223. 

Cubberley, E. P., cited, 83; on 
national grants for education, 
153; help of, to teachers, in im- 
proving rural life, 229. 

Cubberley and Elliott, cited, 146. 

Cultural education, a major divi- 
sion of education, 47. 

Curriculum, changes and improve- 
ments in, 23; cannot remain 
static, 54. 

Curtis, C. F., 229. 

Dahm, E. F., criticism by, of com- 
mercial training in high schools, 
329-330. 

Dangers in vocational education, 
102-105. 

Darwin, Charles, cited on instincts 
and intelligence in man, 423. 

Davenport, Eugene, on cooperation, 



in agricultural education, 152; 
farm-craft lessons by, 200; a sup- 
porter of cause of agricultural 
education, 229. 

David Ranken, Jr., School of 
Mechanical Trades, St. Louis, 
143, 246. 

Davis Bill, 171. 

Davis-Dolliver Bill, 171. 

Day industrial schools, 246; princi- 
ples for, 252-254. 

Day vocational schools, 50. 

Dean, A. S., on agriculture for city 
boys, 199. 

Delinquents, agriculture for, 227. 

Democracy, necessity of an ideal 
in, 3-4; significance of, in Amer- 
ica, 5; characteristics of, 5-6; 
reasons why education is indis- 
pensable in, 6-9; public educa- 
tion an aspect of, 9; the teaching 
of, 19-28; the great task set for, 
according to Giddings, 114—115. 

Democratizing of education, voca- 
tional training as a means of, 100. 

Department store education, 334- 
338. 

Dewey, John, on certain dangers of 
existing industrial system, 17-18; 
"Democracy and Education" by, 
quoted and cited, 38, 39; com- 
plaint voiced by, concerning 
Smith-Hughes Act, 179; quoted 
on principles of method, 439- 
440. 

Disabled, rehabilitation of the, by 
vocational training, 112-114. 

Divisions of vocational education, 
46-47. 

Dodge, J. M., study by, 105. 

Dodson, W. R., 229. 



INDEX 



471 



Domestic and personal service, 

workers engaged in, 241. 
Drexel Institute, Philadelphia, 263. 
Drudgery, meaning and ingredients 

of, 441. 
Duff, Peter, commercial school 

founded by, 323. 
Duggar, J. F., 229. 
Dunwoody Industrial Institute, 

Minneapolis, 143, 263. 

Ebbinghaus, H., 4. 

Education, indispensability of, in a 
democracy, 6-7; reasons for es- 
tablishment and maintenance of, 
by the incorporated people, 7-9; 
the meaning of, 9; public, an 
aspect of democracy, 9; factors 
in, 10; complexity of, 10; univer- 
sal, and its scope, 11-12; in- 
dividualism vs. collectivism in, 
12-14; cooperation vs. force in, 
14-15; needed reorganizations in, 
15-16; some effects of, seen in 
production of leaders by univer- 
sities, 16; vision necessary for 
men in industry, 16-18; four vivid 
characteristics of, in America, 
18-19; the teaching of democ- 
racy, 19-26; relation between 
health and, 26-27; vocational, not 
merely an addition, 27-28; defini- 
tion of vocational, 33-34; de- 
mands for the practical in, 35- 
37; relations of liberal and voca- 
tional, 37-39; six contemporary 
interpretations of vocational and 
of liberal, 39-43; compatibility of 
practical, with ethical idealism, 
43-45; historic aims and ideals 
in, 45-46; difference existing 



between practical arts courses and 
vocational, 47-48; German sys- 
tem of, 51-54; effect on general, 
of vocational education, 100; 
money values of, 105-106; as a 
preventive of poverty, 106-108; 
for mechanical industries and 
trades, 238-307; for business and 
commerce, 308-345; practical, of 
girls and women, 350-380. See 
Agricultural education and Voca- 
tional education. 

Educational research, 402-403; the 
sm-vey movement, 403-404; bu- 
reaus of, 404-405; vocational- 
educational surveys, 407-414. 

Efficiency, specialized, as an aim of 
vocational education, 41; search 
for, in industry, 393-395. 

Einheitschule, the German, 53. 

Elementary commercial education, 
327-328. 

Elementary schools, teaching of 
home economics in, 363-364. 

Elimination, evil of premature, 27; 
amount and causes of, 74-80; 
results of, 80-82. 

Ellis, A. C, study by, of money 
value of education, 105-106. 

Emotionalism, relation between 
ideals and, 24-25. 

Employees, selection of, 395; ex- 
periments in testing, 431-432. 

Emplojonent, department of, in 
business administration, 377. 

Emplojonent manager, qualifica- 
tions of, 717-319. 

England, evening schools in, 262; 
commercial education in, 320- 
321 ; reports issued by Ministry of 
Labor in, 399-400. 



472 



INDEX 



Enrollment, statistics of, in schools, 
84-87. 

Environment, classification of hu- 
man types as to, 64; influence of, 
on education, 123-125. 

Ethical idealism, practical educa- 
tion and, 43-45. 

Ettinger, Superintendent, work of, 
for teaching of salesmanship, 333. 

Europe, continuation school idea in, 
256; evening schools in countries 
of, 262. 

Evening schools, desirable results 
expected from, 102; problems of, 
262-270; subjects of instruction 
in, under Smith-Hughes Act, 
284-285; household arts courses 
in, 366-370; provisions of Smith- 
Hughes Act affecting, 377. 

Evening vocational schools, 50, 262. 

Expense of vocational education, 
104. 

Experience, disadvantages of, as a 
school, 81. 

Expression, as a principle of educa- 
tional practice, 440. 

Extension trade teaching for women, 
374-376. 

Extraction of minerals, workers en- 
gaged in, 241. 

Fads, aspects of vocational educa- 
tion viewed as, 40. 

Fairchild, G. T., 229. 

Fallon, John J., quoted on in- 
competency and crime, 110. 

Family, relations of the, to educa- 
tion, 125-127. 

Farm-craft lessons, 200. 

Farmers' institutes, 195. 

Fatigue, periods of, 436. 



Federal aid for commercial educa- 
tion, 344-345. 

Federal Board for Vocational Edu- 
cation, 22. 

Federal Commission on National 
Aid to Vocational Education, 
propositions of, 96-102. 

Federal Government, policy of, 
toward education, 14-15, 145- 
152; expenditures of, for educa- 
tion, 152-157. 

Feeble-minded, agriculture for the, 
227. 

Fellenberg movement, the, 111- 
112; agricultural education stim- 
ulated by, 195. 

File clerk, occupation of, 313. 

Finance department of business 
administration, 317. 

Financial argument for vocational 
education, 99-100. 

First aid, instruction of industrial 
teachers in, 288-289. 

Foreign trade, education for, 340. 

Fortbildungschule, the German, 52. 

France, study of elementary agricul- 
ture in, 193-194; commercial 
education in, 320. 

Franklin Union, Boston, 263. 

Galloway, Lee, quoted on educa- 
tion for work in stores, 332-333. 

General Education Board, con- 
tribution of, in field of educa- 
tional research, 404. 

Genesis, classification of human 
types according to, 64. 

Germany, pre-war influence of, 51; 
characteristics of schools of, 51- 
54; educational system not safely 
to be transplanted to America, 



INDEX 



473 



54; agricultural schools in, 195; 
evening schools in, 262; commer- 
cial education in, 321-322. 

Giddings, F. H., 63; on the nature 
and behavior of human society, 
66; on the goal of democracy, 
114-115. 

Gilds, medieval, 128-129. 

Gild system, modern economic 
changes vs., 132-134. 

Girls, practical education of, 350ff.; 
psychology of adolescent, 351- 
352; home-making as a vocation 
for, 354-358; occupational tend- 
encies among, 358-361; indus- 
trial and trade-extension schools 
for, 373-376. 

Glen Mills Schools, Pennsylvania, 
111. 

Graves, Frank P., quoted on Fellen- 
berg movement, 111. 

Groupings of society, 66-67. 

Groups, occupational, 67-72. 

Gymnasium, the German, 52. 

Hall, G. S., 21, 62; on legends of 
lost arts, 130-131. 

Hampton Normal and Agricultural 
Institute, 143; agricultural edu- 
cation at, 224. 

Hanisch, German Kultus-Minister, 
program of educational reform 
issued by, 54. 

Harper, William B., correspondence 
instruction stimulated by, 271. 

Harvard School of Business Ad- 
ministration, 332. 

Hatch Act, 149, 151. 

Hawaii, educational work in, 14; 
Federal government's support of 
education in, 156. 



Hawkins, L. S., on study of agricul- 
tme in high schools, 201-203; 
quoted, 345. 

Heald, F. E., study by, of project- 
method in agricultiu"al education, 
221. 

Health, education and, 26-27; as an 
educational ideal, 46. 

Hebrew Technical School for Girls, 
New York City, 143. 

Henry, W. A., 229. 

Hickok, Mrs. H. M., cited on home- 
making, 358. 

High schools, students in certain 
studies in, 137; problems pre- 
sented by introduction of voca- 
tional training in, 139-140; in- 
struction in agriculture in, 201- 
205; technical, 301-302; commer- 
cial education in, 328-330; pro- 
posed commercial curricula for, 
342-344; teaching of home eco- 
nomics in, 364-365. 

Hirsch Trade School for Girls, New 
York City, 143, 373. 

Hodge, C. F., cited concerning 
nature study, 197. 

HoUey, C. E., studies by, 78. 

HoUingworth, H. L., cited, 424, 
428; experiments of, 433. 

Home, function of the, in educa- 
tion, 125-127. 

Home economics: household arts 
education, 362-370; vocational 
home-making courses, 370-373. 

Home-making education, 47; a 
definition of, 49. 

Home-making, as a vocation for 
girls, 354-358; responsibility in, 
shared by boys and men, 362; 
courses in vocational, 370-373. 



474 



INDEX 



Hopkins, C. G., 229. 

Hosic, J. F., 219. 

Household arts, use of term, 363. 

Household arts education, 49-50, 

362-370. 
Hughes, Dudley M., Smith-Hughes 

Act fathered by, 171. 
Hiunanism, democracy and, 19- 

20. 
Human types, classification of, 64. 
Hunt, T. F., 229. 

Ideals, an element of democratic 
society, 3-4; in America, 5-6; 
methods for use in securing, 20- 
21; expression vs. mere por- 
trayal of, 23-24; practical educa- 
tion compatible with, 43-45; dis- 
cussion of educational, 45-48. 

IlUnois, University of, farm-craft 
lessons distributed by, 200; in- 
telligence testing at, 425-426. 

IlUnois Educational Commission, 
report on vocational courses by, 
140-141. 

Immigration, problems presented 
by, 108. 

Independence, individual, as an 
educational ideal, 46. 

Indians, Federal aid in education of, 
156. 

Indian schools, statistics of, 84. 

Individualism vs. collectivism in 
education, 12-14. 

Individuals, adjustment of schools 
to society or to, 60-61; differ- 
ences in, 62-63; table showing 
classification of types of, 64. 

Industrial arts education, 49; forms 
of training included under, 241. 

Industrial education, 47; a defini- 



tion of vocational, 49; in German 
schools, 51-54. 

Industrial research, 393-402. 

Industrial schools, results expected 
from, 101-102; established by 
philanthropy, 142-143; meaning 
of term, 239-240; description of, 
241ff.; divisions within, 247; 
departments of, 248; prevoca- 
tional courses in, 249; propor- 
tions of shop and of academic 
work in, 249; uses of spare time 
in, 252; principles to be observed 
in, 252-254; provisions of Smith- 
Hughes Act regarding, 280-285; 
production vs. exercise in, 287- 
288; teachers and teaching meth- 
ods in, 290-302; book by H. L. 
Smith on establishing of, 405- 
406. 

Industrial unrest, traced to lack of 
vocational training, 100-101. 

Industrial victims, vocational edu- 
cation of, 112-113. 

Industries, relation of vocational- 
educational siu-veys to, 414. 

Industry, importance of vision for 
men in, 16-19; the word, as dis- 
tinguished from "trade," 238- 
239. 

Injuries in industrial schools, 288- 
290. 

Instruction, psychology applied to, 
420-445. 

Instructors in industrial schools, 
290-293. 

Intellectuals, class of, among young 
women, 354-355. 

Intelligence, denotation of term, 
423; analysis of general, 423- 
424; viewed as voluntary adap- 



INDEX 



475 



tability, 424; standards of, in 
army and in universities, 425- 
426. 

Intelligence tests, 398-399, 424^425. 

Interest, as a principle of educa- 
tional practice, 440. 

International Typographical Union 
Conamission on Supplemental 
Trade Education, 145. 

Isaac Delgado Central Trades 
School for Boys, New Orleans, 
143. 

James, E. J., address by, cited, 329. 

James, William, 420, 437; on in- 
stincts in man, 423. 

Jarvis, C. D., on gardening in 
elementary schools, 197. 

Jefferson, Thomas, on education, 7. 

Jewell, J. R., monograph by, cited, 
197. 

Jobs, real life work distinguished 
from, 443-444. 

Johnson, J. F., on commercial edu- 
cation, 320-324, 340. 

Johnson, Samuel, 229. 

Jones, E. D., description of success- 
ful employment manager by, 317- 
319. 

Jones, J. C, study by, 105. 

Jones, Jonathan, commercial school 
founded by, 323. 

Jordan, W. H., 229. 

Journalism, responsibility of sensa- 
tional, for demands for practical 
in education, 55. 

Judd, C. H., 62, 424; quoted con- 
cerning National Society for 
Vocational Education, 170-171; 
quoted on tendencies in commer- 
cial teaching, 335. 



Juvenile delinquents, vocational 
education for, 110-111. 

Kandel, I. L., review by, presenting 
program of German educational 
reform, 54; cited, 146, 148. 

Kansas City, statistics of elimina- 
tion in schools of, 77. 

Kedzie, R. C, 229. 

Kelly, F. J., cited on the general 
industrial school, 259. 

Kelly, Roy W., quoted on experi- 
ment in examining at Harvard, 
430-431. 

Kerschensteiner, George, continua- 
tion schools of Munich under, 
256-257. 

Kindergartens, statistics of, 84. 

Kinley, David, quoted on commer- 
cial education, 340-342. 

Knowledge, increase of, a reason 
for education, 8. 

Labor power, reduction of waste of, 
by vocational training, 97-98. 

Labor unions, schools maintained 
by, 145. 

Land grants for educational pur- 
poses, 14, 145-146. 

Lane Technical High School, Chi- 
cago, 246; prevocational course 
at, 249. 

Leaders produced by universities, 
16. 

Leake, Albert H., 41; book by, on 
vocational education of women, 
377-378. 

Learning, three modes of, 437; 
securing economy in, 437-438. 

Legislative enactments regarding 
vocational education, 145-152. 



476 



INDEX 



Lever Bill, 171. 

Lewis Institute, Chicago, 143. 

Life work, meaning of, 441-445. 

Literacy, the need of, as well as of 
skill, 108-109. 

Lyford, Carrie A., courses in home- 
making by, 36&-366. 

Lyman School for Boys, Massachu- 
setts, 111. 

McDonald, R. A. F., tabular classi- 
fication of human types by, 64. 

McKinley Bill of 1911, 171. 

McMurry, C. A., 21, 219. 

Maine, Sir Henry, quoted on dan- 
gers of democracies, 13. 

Manhattan Trades School for Girls, 
New York City, 373. 

Manual training, vocational educa- 
tion sometimes viewed as merely 
a variety of, 40. 

Manufacturing, department of, in 
business administration, 317. 

Manufacturing and mechanical in- 
dustries, statistics relative to, 
241-245. 

Marshall, Florence, study by, 105. 

Mason, O. T., quoted on influence 
of environment on education, 123, 
124, 125. 

Massachusetts, agricultural educa- 
tion in, 207-208; qualifications of 
teachers of agriculture in, 217- 
218. 

Mechanical industries and trades, 
education for, 238-307. 

Mechanic arts, legislation providing 
for colleges for, 149-152; statis- 
tics of income for colleges of, 
152-153, 154. 

Mental hygiene, 435. 



Mental tests, 424-435. 

Method, principles of, 439-440. 

Miles, Manley, 229. 

Mill, J. S., cited on education, 7. 

Miners, schools for, 269-270. 

Miimeapolis Vocational Survey, 406. 

Minnesota, University of, agricul- 
tural high school connected with, 
201. 

Monarchy, desirability of educa- 
tion in a, 7. 

Money values of education, 105- 
106. 

Monroe, Paul, on all education as, 
in a sense, vocational, 34. 

Moore, E. C, on practical educa- 
tion and idealistic training, 43- 
45. 

Morality, as an educational ideal, 
46. 

MorrUl Act, 14, 146-148, 168, 201; 
veto of first, by President Bu- 
chanan, 148-149; passage of, in 
1862, 149; the second (1890), 149; 
Jonathan B. Turner the real 
father of, 149-150; influence and 
significance of, 150. 

Mosby, Thomas S., on relation be- 
tween incompetency and crime, 
109-110. 

Motivation, as a principle of educa- 
tional practice, 440. 

Mumford, H. W., 229. 

Munich, continuation schools of, 
256-257. 

Murray Hill Evening Trade School, 
New York City, 265. 

Mm-tland, Cleo, cited on part-time 
courses in household arts, 372- 
373. 

Myers, G. E., cited, 290. 



INDEX 



477 



National Council of Research, high 
standard maintained for workers 
of, 422. 

National Education Association, 
definition and types of vocational 
education by committee of, 48- 
51 ; criticism of Smith-Hughes Act 
by Department of Superintend- 
ence of, 177. 

National prosperity, viewed as de- 
pendent on vocational education, 
100. 

National Society for Promotion of 
Industrial Education, 160-170. 

National Society for Study of 
Education, 37. 

National Society for Vocational 
Education, 170-171. 

Natural resources, relation of voca- 
tional training to conservation 
and development of, 96-97. 

Nature study, place of, in agricul- 
tural education, 196-197. 

Nautical education, vocational, 50. 

Nelson Act, 149, 150. 

Neumann, Henry, quoted on phys- 
ical and moral vigor, 26. 

New Bedford, Mass., Industrial 
School, 265. 

New Orleans, percentage of elimina- 
tion in schools of, 76-77. 

Newton, Mass., Trade School, 
265. 

New York City, part-time schools 
in, 254-255; cooperative plan in, 
for education for work in stores, 
333. 

New York Trade School, 263. 

Nichols, F. G., quoted on commer- 
cial education, 327-328; recom- 
mendations of^ 342-344. 



Nietzsche, disciples of, among pres- 
ent-day young women 354-355. 

Nolan, A. W., quoted on nature 
study and agriculture, 197; study 
of project-method in agricultural 
education by, 221. 

Oakland Technical High School, 
California, 246. 

Occupational groups, the major, 
241-245. 

Occupations, classification of, 67- 
68; statistics of, in tabular form, 
69, 70, 72; influence of environ- 
ment and, on education, 123-125. 

OflSce manager, occupation of, 313. 

Office occupations, definitions and 
descriptions of, 310-315. 

Office work, classification of, 315- 
316. 

Ohio Mechanics' Institute, Cin- 
cinnati, 263. 

O'Leary, W. A., recommendations 
by, 291. 

O'Shea, M. V., 219; quoted on 
groupings of society, 66-67. 

Overman Bill, 171. 

Packard, S. S., penmanship teacher, 
323. 

Page Bill, 171. 

Panama, Federal government's sup- 
port of education in, 156. 

Panama-Pacific exhibition, rural 
and agricultural exhibits at, 208. 

Part-time courses, provisions of 
Smith-Hughes Act in regard to, 
283-284; for housewives, 372-373. 

Part-time schools, desirable results 
expected from, 102; for industrial 
workers, 254-258. 



478 



INDEX 



Patriotism, education for, 25-26. 

Paulsen, F., quoted on intellectuals 
among young women, 355. 

Pearson, R. A., 229. 

Persistence, studies relating to 
elimination and, 74-78. 

Personality, classification of human 
types according to, 64. 

Personnel department of business 
administration, 317. 

Pestalozzi, theory of, and its in- 
fluence, 114. 

Pestalozzi-Fellenberg system, 111- 
112, 195. 

Phase method of organizing indus- 
trial instruction, 294. 

Philanthropy, support given voca- 
tional education by, 142-143. 

Philippine Islands, educational work 
in, 14, 156. 

Physical education, a major divi- 
sion of education, 47. 

Plato, cited on education, 7; quoted 
on population-characteristics, 65- 
66. 

Population, characteristics of, of 
United States, 65; contemporary 
education in relation to, 134- 
139. 

Porto Rico, educational work in, 15; 
Federal government's support of 
education in, 156. 

Poverty, education as a panacea for, 
106-108. 

Practical arts courses, distinct from 
vocational education, 47-48. 

Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, 143, 
263. 

Prevocational education, so called, 
48; definition of, 50; in industrial 
schools, 249. 



Prisons, farm work at, 227-228. 

Pritchett, Henry S., quoted on the 
Morrill Act, 150. 

Private schools, commercial educa- 
tion in, 330-331. 

Production, vocational education 
conceived as education for, 40. 

Professional education, 47; defini- 
tion of, 48; of women, 378. 

Project method, in agricultural 
education, 207-208, 220-221; in 
trade and industrial education, 
294-295. 

Project routing, 295-296. 

Prosser, Charles A., 179; quoted on 
Smith-Hughes Act, 182; recom- 
mendations by, 291; cited rela- 
tive to vocational industrial 
courses for girls and women, 374; 
on special value of survey work, 
407. 

Psychology, of childhood and ad- 
olescence as a factor in prepara- 
tion of educators, 62; of adoles- 
cent girls, 351-352; applications 
of, to instruction and industry, 
420ff.; unwarranted expectations 
from, 420-421; two extremes of 
position in regard to, 421 ; certain 
confusions concerning, 421-422; 
slow progress of scientific, 422; 
scope and status of, 422; applied 
to measuring abilities, 423-435; 
various applications of, 435-441. 

Public service, workers engaged in, 
241. 

Purchasing agent, occupation of, 
313-314. 

Qualifications, of industrial school 
teachers, 291; for oflBce occupa- 



INDEX 



479 



tions, 311-315; of employment 
manager, 317. 

Railey, Mary, 83, 93. 

Ralph Sellew Institute, St. Louis, 
143. 

Randall, J. L., cited on school gar- 
dening, 197. 

Realschule, the German, 52. 

Reigart, J. F., quoted on family 
education, 125-126, 127. 

Reilly, P. J., scale devised by, for 
rating foreman, 435. 

Research, methods of, for adjusting 
schools to individuals and to 
society, 61-62; uses of, for educa- 
tion and industry, 389ff.; mean- 
ings and values of, 389-393; in- 
dustrial, 393-402; educational, 
402-406. 

Retardation, use and abuse of term, 
82-83. 

Roberts, J. P., 229. 

Rochester Mechanics' Institute, 143. 

Ross, E. A., on response of people 
to an ideal, 21. 

Rousseau, J. J., 4. 

Rural education, needed reorgani- 
zations in, 15-16. 

Rural schools, household arts in- 
struction in, 365-366. 

Russell, H. L., 229. 

Russell Sage Foundation, work of, 
in educational research, 404. 

St. Charles School for Boys, Illinois, 
111. 

Sales department, in business ad- 
ministration, 317. 

San Francisco, percentage of elimi- 
nation in schools of, 77. 



School credit for business expe- 
rience, 339. 

School garden movement, influence 
of, 197-198. 

Schools, question of adjustment of, 
to individuals and to society, 60- 
61; problems of persistence, elimi- 
nation, and maladjustment in, 
73-83; statistics of enrollment in, 
84-87; vocational courses in pub- 
lic, 139-141; industrial, estab- 
lished through benevolence, 142- 
143; corporation and trade-union, 
143-145; statistics of vocational, 
183; giving instruction in agricul- 
ture, 202; special or separate, for 
agricultural instruction, 204; com- 
mercial, 320-324; as means for 
maintaining ideals, 445. 

Scientific methods in research, 389- 
392. 

Scott, J. F., quoted on old appren- 
ticeship system, 128. 

Scott, W. D., quoted on tests of em- 
ployees, 431-433. 

Scovell, M. A., 229. 

Secondary commercial education, 
328-330. 

Sex, occupational groupings ac- 
cording to, 69, 70, 73. 

Sex differences, relation of, to edu- 
cation, 351. 

Shelton, E. M., 229. 

Shorey, Paul, attitude of, toward 
educational psychology, 421. 

Skill, increase of, a reason for edu- 
cation, 8. 

Smith, H. L., "Establishing Indus- 
trial Schools" by, 405-406. 

Smith, Hoke, Smith-Hughes Act 
fathered by, 171. 



480 



INDEX 



Smith, W. W., study by, 105. 

Smith-Hughes Act, 15, 22, 37, 96, 
114, 146, 150, 151; function and 
aims of, 167-168; origin of, 168- 
169; predecessors of, 171-172; 
text of, 172-174, 451-462; com- 
ments on and criticisms of, 174- 
181; merits of, 181-184; future 
modification of, 184; allotments to 
the States under, 184-186; appli- 
cations of, to agricultural educa- 
tion, 193, 211-217; applications 
of, to industrial and trade educa- 
tion, 279-285; applications of, to 
practical education of women and 
girls, 376-377. 

Smith-Lever Act, 14, 151-152. 

Smith-Sears Act, 150, 151; voca- 
tional training of disabled soldiers 
under, 113-114; purpose of, 186; 
text of, 462-466. 

Smith-Towner Bill, 180-181. 

Snedden, David, view of voca- 
tional education held by, 40; 
quoted concerning industrial evils, 
132; cited and quoted, 103, 223, 
290, 300, 301, 362-363. 

Social unrest, traced to lack of 
vocational training, 100-101. 

Society, adjustment of schools to 
individuals or to, 60-61; lack of 
homogeneity in American, 65- 
66; groupings of American, 66- 
67. 

Soldiers, industrial and trade educa- 
tion for rehabilitation of disabled, 
285. 

Soule, A. M., 229. 

Specialized efficiency, as a supposed 
aim of vocational education, 
41. 



Spencer, Herbert, enduring in- 
fluence of, 7. 

Spencer, P. R., penmanship teacher, 
323. 

Standards of living, effect on, of 
vocational education, 101. 

State, security of the, a reason for 
education, 8. 

State expenditures for agricultural 
and mechanical colleges, 153, 154. 

States, distribution of occupations 
by, 71; allotments to, under 
Smith-Hughes Act, 184r-186. 

Statistician, occupation of, 314. 

Stern, W., definition of intelligence 
by, 424. 

Stimson, R. W., study by, of proj- 
ect-method in agricultural edu- 
cation, 221. 

Stockbridge, Levi, 229. 

Stock, Harry H., work of, for indus- 
trial mining education, 269. 

Storer, Frank, 229. 

Stores, education for work in, 332- 
345. 

Strayer, G. D., studies of elimina- 
tion by, 75. 

Surveys, vocational-educational, 62, 
407-il4; educational, 403-404. 

Suzzallo, Henry, 219; principles of 
educational practice emphasized 
by, 440; types of teaching or- 
ganized into groups by, 441. 

Sweden, study of elementary agri- 
culture in, 194. 

Switzerland, agricultural schools in, 
195. 

Tabulating-machine operator, occu- 
pation of, 314. 
Talbot, Winthrop, cited, 108, 



INDEX 



481 



Teachers, of agricultural courses, 
217-220; in evening schools, 263; 
in industrial schools, 290-293. 

Teacher-training centers, 300-301; 
statistics of vocational, 183. 

Teaching, types of, organized into 
groups, 441. 

Technical knowledge required in 
department stores, 335-338. 

Terman, Lewis M., cited, 424. 

Tests, for employees, 395-396; 
trade, 396-398; intelligence, 398- 
399, 424-425; arguments for and 
against, in school, 405; use of 
mental, 424-434; insufficiency of, 
for real guidance, 428-429. 

Therapy, agriculture as, 223-224. 

Thompson, F. V., criticism by, of 
commercial education in high 
schools, 330. 

Thorndike, E. L., 21, 62, 63, 424, 
437; quoted on educational aims, 
41-42; studies of elimination by, 
75. 

Thome, C. E., 229. 

Thwing, Charles, study by, of 
definite rewards of education, 105. 

Trades and industries, use of words, 
238-239. 

Trade schools, supported by labor 
unions, 145; description of, 246- 
261; for girls, 373-374. 

Trafiic manager, occupation of, 314. 

Trained workers, vocational train- 
ing as a means of meeting demand 
for, 99. 

Training of industrial school teach- 
ers, 291-293; centers for, 300- 
301. 

Transcribing-machine operator, oc- 
cupation of, 315. 



Transportation, workers engaged 
in, 241. 

True, A. C, work of, for agricul- 
tural education, 229. 

Turner, Jonathan B., father of so- 
called Morrill Act, 149-150. 

Turn-over of labor, reduction of, 339. 

Tuskegee Normal and Industrial 
Institute, 143; agricultural edu- 
cation at, 224. 

Unitary control in systems of edu- 
cation, 21-23. 

Unit courses, defined, 264; groups 
needing, 265; disadvantages and 
advantages of, 265-267; in emer- 
gency war-service, 267; outhnes 
of typical, 267-269; part-time 
courses for housewives should be, 
372. 

United States, rehabilitation of dis- 
abled soldiers in, 113-114; prog- 
ress in elementary agricultural 
education in, 195; evening schools 
in, 263; development of commer- 
cial education in, 322. 

United States Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, 371, 400-402. 

Unit plans for commercial educa- 
tion in junior and senior high 
schools, 342-344. 

Universal education, scope of, 11- 
12; does not imply uniformity in 
schools, curricula, and methods, 
60. 

Universities, leaders among men 
produced by, 16; correspondence 
courses at, 271 ; industrial teacher- 
training courses at, 301-302; com- 
mercial education at, 331-332; 
use of mental tests at, 425-426. 



482 



INDEX 



Utility, as a supposed end of voca- 
tional education, 41-43. 

Van Den Burg, I. K., studies by, 

78. 

Van Sickle, Witmer, and Ayres, 
monograph by, cited, 82-83. 

Vineland Training School, agricul- 
tural activities at, 227. 

Virginia Mechanics' Institute, Rich- 
mond, 143, 263. 

Virtue and knowledge, correlation 
between, 10&-110. 

Vocation, necessity of understand- 
ing term, 441; should mean life 
work, 444. 

Vocational commercial education, 
significance of term, 324. 

Vocational education, the proper 
conception of, 27-28; what is 
meant by, 33-34; necessity of 
different provisions for, 37; can- 
not be divorced from general and 
liberal education, 38-39; divi- 
sions of, 46-47; practical arts 
courses distinct from, 47-48; 
definition and types of, offered by 
Committee on Vocational Edu- 
cation of N. E. A., 48-51; rela- 
tion between distribution of oc- 
cupations by states and, 71; 
probable effect of, on elimination, 
80; as a panacea for maladjust- 
ments of children with reference 
to age and grade, 82; not a cure 
for retardation, 83; statement of 
twelve reasons for, 95-101; dan- 
gers in, 102-105; definite rewards 
of, 105-108; crime and, 109-110; 
for juvenile delinquents, 110-111; 
provisions for, in relation to 



population, 134-139; question of 
schools which should give, 139- 
141 ; public sentiment in favor of, 
141-142; support given to, by 
philanthropy, 142-143; Commis- 
sion on, 151; federal support of, a 
fact, 156-157; the Smith-Hughes 
Act, 167-186; statistics of schools 
and vocational teacher-training 
centers, 183; acceleration of, due 
to war, 186-187; agricultural 
education defined as, 193; in 
evening schools, 262-270; educa- 
tion for mechanical industries and 
trades, 238ff. ; by correspondence, 
270-271; education for business 
and commerce, 308-345; of girls 
and women, 350-380; ideal con- 
ception of, 444-445. 

Vocational Education, National So- 
ciety for, 170-171. 

Vocational-educational surveys, 
398-399; elements of, 407; steps 
in, 407^14. 

Vocational guidance, defined, 50-51. 

Vocational home-making courses, 
370-373. 

Vocational industrial education, 
forms of education included 
under 240. 

Volksschule, the German, 51-52. 

Vorschule, in Germany, 53. 

Wage-earning power, vocational 

training as a means of increasing, 

99-100. 
Wallin, J. E. W., plans by, for 

facilitating promotion, 83. 
War-service, the unit course in 

emergency, 267. 
Waters, H. J., 229. 



INDEX 



483 



Welfare supervisor, occupation of, 
315. 

Wentworth Institute, Boston, 143, 
246. 

West Indies, agricultural education 
in, 194. 

Wharton School of Finance and 
Commerce, University of Penn- 
sylvania, 331-332. 

Whipple, Guy M., 424. 

Whittier School, California, 111. 

Williamson, Pa., Free School of 
Mechanical Trades, 143, 246; 
agricultural education at, 224^ 
227; division of time among 
courses at, 250-252. 

Wilmerding Schools, San Francisco, 
143. 

Wilson, Woodrow, on education, 7; 
speech by (July 4, 1918), quoted, 
25-26. 

Women, industrial and trade edu- 
cation for, 285-286; in business, 
309-310; practical education of 
girls and, 350ff.; industrial and 
trade-extension schools for, 373- 
376. 

Women's Educational and Indus- 
trial Union, Boston, 143. 



Worcester, Mass., statistics of work- 
ing girls in, 359-360. 

Worcester Independent School of 
Trades, 246; work in, 250. 

Worcester Trades School for Girls, 
373. 

Work, distinguished from drudgery 
and toil, 441; not to be regarded 
merely as a "job," 443-444. 

World War, conditions resulting in, 
5; Federal grants for education 
before and since the, 153-155; 
effect of, on vocational educa- 
tion, 186-187. 

Yerkes, R. M., researches of, 423. 

Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion, industrial schools estab- 
lished by, 143, 160; evening 
schools established by, 263; imit 
courses in industrial courses of, 
268. 

Young Women's Christian Associa- 
tion, evening schools established 
by, 263. 

Ziertmann, Paul, quoted on Ger- 
man educational system, 63. 



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